
Class 
Book. 







G[Q£!XBIGHT DEPOSIT. 



% 



HOW TO MAKE 
THE CHURCH GO 

WILLIAM H. LEACH 



HOW TO MAKE 
THE CHURCH GO 

A Desk Manual for the Every Day Use 
of the Modern Minister Executive 

BY 

WILLIAM H. LEACH 




NEW >(Sr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1922, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



HOW TO MAKE THE CHURCH GO. II 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



OCT -6 '22 

C1A686105 



TO ONE WHOSE UNSELFISH TUTORAGE TAUGHT 
ME TO APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF HUMAN CONTACTS 

The Rev. G. CHAPMAN JONES, ll.d. 

I RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Introductory : The Minister as an Ex- 
ecutive II 

II Forces Which Move Men ... 20 

III Forces Which Move Men (Con- 

tinued) . . . . , . 30 

IV The Church Office . , . . 39 
V The Minister and His Official Board 51 

VI Committee Organization and Manage- 
ment 60 

VII Keeping in Touch with the Congrega- 
tion 70 

VIII A Working Program for the Church 82 

IX The Financial Campaign • . • 93 
X A News Space Clinic . . . .102 
XI Getting the Most from Volunteer 

Workers 117 

Index 127 



HOW TO MAKE 
THE CHURCH GO 



Chapter I: Introductory 
The Minister as an 
Executive 



The idea back of this book is not to invent new 
tasks for the minister or to lay burdens upon 
men already carrying too much weight. It is 
rather to discuss from an executive point of view 
many of the tasks of the ministry and to show 
the principles underlying executive success. Its 
viewpoint is psychological and practical. Psy- 
chological, for the success of an executive de- 
pends upon the ability to recognize the various 
reactions of the human mind and soul to speech 
and action, and practical, that the principles may 
be worked out in the average parish. 

Executive Duties Already on Minister 

The traditional division of the tasks of the 
minister was into two classes, the pulpit and the 
pastoral. But that day has long since passed. 

The age of Sunday schools has required that he 

11 



12 How to Make the Church Go 

be versed in the principles of religious education. 
And the spirit of organization has placed on him 
the executive duties. He must be able to lead 
and direct men at their religious activities. 
Churches may not have consciously recognized 
this and theological seminaries have not officially 
placed courses in executive training in their cur- 
ricula. But the minister on the field has recog- 
nized that the success of individuals has de- 
pended as much upon their ability to get along 
with their workers as in oratorical ability. 

Some would call this a "knack" or a gift with- 
out realizing that there are well grounded princi- 
ples governing such success and the ability to 
handle workers may be developed as well as 
others of life's qualities. Many have worked 
one method. One minister can drive programs 
through, another will laugh them through, per- 
haps another will weep his way to success. Some 
have the ability to find their leaders of power 
and tie to them. But more and more there is an 
earnest desire on the part of preachers to be able 
to control the many forces which make it pos- 
sible for them to win as parish leaders. 

One minister boasts that his success as a pas- 
tor has been brought about by his ability to com- 



The Minister as an Executive 13 

promise two conflicting groups. If one faction 
wanted the entrance to the new church on the 
east and another wanted it on the west, he would 
suggest that it be placed in the corner, thus sat- 
isfying both parties. He tells of a dispute as to 
whether the choir should be built for a quartet 
or a chorus. Both sides had a large following. 
The ^^great compromiser" showed his mastery. 
He had an adjustable platform that could be 
used for either. 

Instances such as quoted above undoubtedly 
require executive ability to handle. Compromise 
may be a legitimate tool in the hand of the 
leader, but it should never be the major tool. 
There have been many other approaches to the 
executive standard. "Molasses will catch more 
flies than vinegar;" "You can't saw wood with 
a hammer;" "Leading is better than driving;" 
are all well known adages which ministers as 
well as others have learned to use. 

Other attempts are shown in the following two 
steps toward a recognition of the executive. The 
old-time minister in addressing new candidates 
Would usually insist that "It is better to put ten 
men to work than to do ten men's work." There 
is a big truth here and there is good psychology 



14 How to Make the Church Go 

back of it. A happy church is a church of 
workers. But merely motion and work without 
an end is not the purpose of the Church. An- 
other illustration is that of the president of a 
Theological seminary instructing his charges 
how to make their church officers act as buffers. 
His scheme is to always get a church officer 
between the minister and the difficulty. It is 
a farther step and a feeler toward the full way 
which this book proposes to go. 

Failures in Life Because of Difficulty in Getting 
Along with People 

The ministry and every other walk of life 
is strewn with failures. Many of these failures 
come from one's inability to get along with his 
fellow men. In the home, at school, in busi- 
ness and in the church, our success depends 
not so much upon ourselves as our ability to 
appreciate the other fellow and to get his point 
of view. Other people are apt to be peculiar. 
But our happiness and success depends upon 
working with them. We need to learn the 
lesson of Washington. He realized that neither 
his officers nor men were trained for military 
life. But he had a philosophy which was equal 



The Minister as an Executive 15 

to the occasion. ^^If you can't have people as 
you want them, you must take them as they 
are," he would say. 

No minister will have people as he wants 
them. He can select no inner circle for per- 
sonal contact and leave the rest alone. He will 
have the obstreperous rams as well as the gentle 
lambs. The church was organized before he 
came to the parish. Men and women have been 
elected to ofiice and are serving. They are his 
colaborers. Like their minister they have their 
imperfections. Among the membership of the 
average congregation are materialists, scandal 
mongers, dollar servers, politicians, short sighted 
business men, tradition lovers, short sighted en- 
thusiasts and a hundred others of different classi- 
fications. They all had some reason for join- 
ing the church. The assumption is that they 
have heard the divine call and desire to serve. 
With these people the minister must make his 
church. 

As he knows these people he learns of the 
forces which will commend the work to them. 
It may seem difficult to build the kingdom of 
God with the material of the average church 
but on the other hand there is the evidence that 



16 How to Make the Church Go 

they have the divine nature. They have heard 
the call. Their vision is poor and their expres- 
sion may be worse but underneath it all is a 
desire to do something for Jesus Christ. It is for 
the minister to lead them to better sight and 
better expression. He is to make the banker feel 
that there is something in life more than stocks 
and bonds. He is to make the washerwoman 
feel that there is something besides washtubs. 
And more than this he is to bring together the 
diverse elements in the congregation and get 
them working together in the great program of 
the church. 

Modern Church Is a Church of Service 

The fact that the church of to-day is interpret- 
ing Christianity in terms of action and service 
rather than in holding services places still fur- 
ther emphasis upon the executive. His task 
is not simply to stand in with people. He must 
direct people in religious activities. Ministers 
have sometimes been surprised at the advance- 
ment of their fellows who have lesser pulpit 
ability. But keen eyed business men who have 
served on the pulpit committees have not alone 
listened to the sermons of their candidates but 



The Minister as an Executive 17 

have looked over their fields to see evidences of 
mastery. And there is little question but that 
the great churches in America to-day were 
builded not alone by great preachers but by 
great executives. It is for this reason that here 
and there there is talk of the larger churches 
having a business manager. But there will al- 
ways be thousands of small churches which must 
rely upon the executive ability of their minis- 
ters for direction and progress. 

The executive will base his success upon or- 
ganization rather than his own personality. One 
of the best business men that the author knows 
recently said in discussing his own business: ^T 
have my business so organized that if I should 
die to-morrow the clients need not know that I 
am dead.'' The minister may find a good ideal 
here. The church should be so organized that 
it is greater than the minister. The real execu- 
tive will long for his program in the church to 
outlast himself. 

We remember hearing a complaint from one 
minister that a certain church was impossible. 
To prove his point he called to mind several 
changes which were made during his pastorate. 
^^But/' he insisted, ^^as soon as I left every- 



18 How to Make the Church Go 

thing slipped back." It may be questioned as to 
just how far that was really a compliment to 
the preacher's ability. In one way he failed 
badly. The congregation had not been im- 
pressed with the need of the reforms which he 
brought about. 

An instance comes to mind of a church which 
has recently called a minister. There were two 
men under consideration and some surprise was 
expressed that they selected the man they did. 
A member of the committee volunteered the in- 
formation. They found that the one man won 
by his personality and had successful pastorates. 
But there was always a reaction when he left. 
The other man builded parishes so substantially 
that the wheels kept turning until his successor 
was installed. 

The executive will abhor stunts and mere 
motion. He will utilize the value of having 
many workers but he will seek to have them 
working at something which fits into the larger 
program of the church in ways which are worth 
while. Carrying wood from one corner in the 
cellar to another and then carrying back is not 
enough. He will want it carried to the stove 
where it may be burned. 



The Minister as an Executive 19 

But his chief work is in building an organiza- 
tion which will take care of the work. If he 
gets the organization builded, that will take care 
of the other necessary things. Whether it is a 
new church, a financial campaign or any other 
specific growth that is desired, if he has built 
his organization and has the resources, the pro- 
gram will be successfully accomplished. 



Chapter II: Forces Which 
Move Men 

The churchman has always been familiar with 
the psychology of the crowd. The great evan- 
gelists and leaders have been masters of that 
science and the clergy have been influenced by 
them to a greater or lesser degree. Even to-day 
the student for the ministry is carefully coached 
into the method of getting the attention of his 
congregation and of holding its mind. The 
psychology of the executive — the man who gets 
other men to work — is of a somewhat different 
type and a man who can hold large audiences 
spellbound may find himself in difficulty in 
working out a constructive program. It is an his- 
toric fact that crowds may tear down but seldom 
build up. 

It is also true that the type of mind which 
falls under the sway of the popular evangelist 
and feels a strange and mystical delight in meet- 
ings, oftentimes is helpless when given a com- 
prehensive task for work. His religion is only 

20 



Forces Which Move Men 21 

effective when in meetings. Indeed oftentimes 
his mind is unable to conceive of reHgion through 
service or a program of work. For him it con- 
sists in getting a good ^^feehng." Methods which 
in the past have attracted great numbers of 
people to the church have usually at the same 
time alienated others who by independent think- 
ing have a natural reaction to the suggestion of 
the crowd. 

The minister executive must have more than 
one string to his bow. He must study the man 
he would put to work and then see just what 
weapon he has which will reach the vulnerable 
point. Let him assume to begin with that 
every man can be reached by some honorable 
appeal for service. Some men he instinctively 
recognizes are bigger than others. He will want 
them because of their larger influence. But he 
will not neglect the lesser lights nor the young 
men and women who have possibilities of lead- 
ership for the future. The question of leader- 
ship is the great question for the future of the 
church. 

Fred C. Kelly in a volume entitled Human 
Nature in Business, gives considerable space to 
illustrations showing the different appeals which 



22 How to Make the Church Go 

a reporter will use to get next to the man he 
wishes to interview. John D. Rockefeller was 
reached by telling him what a fine talk he had 
given to the children in his Sunday school in 
Cleveland. The great financier was moved by 
the compliment to his talking ability and the 
appreciation of his interest in the Sunday school. 
The late Chief Justice Fuller reacted to the re- 
mark, '^Mr. Justice, I didn't suppose that a man 
on the Supreme Court could be so human.'' Jim 
Williams, policeman and source of interesting 
news, could only be handled by his favorite 
topic, food. Certain U. S. Marines had sore feet. 
The reporter who learned that fact and used it 
had no trouble getting interviews. 

Methods'which'will attract one man will repel 
another. Kelly tells the instance of a salesman 
who has a funny story which he used as a way 
of introduction. It went well with nine men 
but the tenth turned on his heel in disgust. 

"I wouldn't buy anything from you. You're 
too condemned smart." 

Thus in a church a contest method may be 
productive with some characters. Others will 
resent the attempt to draw them in by any such 
method. 



Forces Which Move Men 23 

The controlling forces which the executive 
may use are many. The classification of ten 
major forces here will not exhaust them but give 
an idea of the possibilities. 

1. Self-interest. 

2. Desire for Recognition. 

3. Love of Ceremony. 

4. Influence of Prestige and Imitation. 

5. Competition. 

6. Force of Public Opinion. 

7. Love of Fair Play. 

8. Comradeship. 

9. Inherent Ambition to be of some Service in 

the World. 

10. Constraining Love of Christ. 

I. Self-Interest 

This may be the great compelling force of 
life as the materialist insists. The business exec- 
utive can make this appeal to those under him. 
The man who makes good is promoted, his in- 
come is increased and he receives a larger share 
of the good things of this life. The minister is 
paying no salaries to his workers. He must find 
some other compensation for those who must 
be reached by the appeal of self interest. This 



24 How to Make the Church Go 

may not be as difficult or as immoral as it seems 
at first when one considers the compensation 
which the church may offer. 

The average religious task brings a certain self 
culture to the individual. It increases his per- 
sonal efficiency and broadens his outlook. I 
have in mind a man who is now manager of a 
great department store. He is confident that 
any executive ability which he possesses was 
developed first by acting as superintendent of his 
Sunday school. Then for the first time he 
learned how to get along with people. Every 
reader can bring to his mind instances of workers 
who have found the teaching of a Sunday school 
class to lead to a broader appreciation of the 
problems and opportunities of life. 

It is interesting to find that Prof. E. A. Ross 
in his Social Psychology gives as one of the 
prophylactics against the mob mind, participa- 
tion in volunteer associations. ^Participation in 
the management of a society developes ac- 
quaintance with rules of discussion, tolerance 
of opponents, love of order, and readiness to 
abide by the will of the majority. Above all 
it teaches people to rate the windbag, the ranter, 
or the sophist at his true worth, and to value the 



Forces Which Move Men 25 

less showy qualities of a man by judgment and 
reason." Here it is of evident self-interest for 
a person to engage in organized church activity. 

One of the interesting contributions as to the 
value of religious work comes from a real estate 
dealer. For some years he has served as trus- 
tee of a little church although he lives nearer 
to a stronger one. ^^I handle considerable real 
estate in that section/' he said. ^'One of the 
best assets in the selling of homes is a good active 
church. I can't afford not to take an interest in 
the little church of which I am a trustee." 

It is not necessary to discuss in this book the 
morality of the various appeals which may be 
made. Some are much more noble than others. 
We merely want to outline some of the forces 
which are at the disposal of the minister who 
seeks colaborers. The appeal such as that above 
is a powerful and legitimate one to use. 

II. Desire for Recognition 

This force has a strong appeal for the average 
man or woman. They like to be recognized as 
a leader or as having some special ability of 
some kind or another. They will gladly yield 
themselves in service when one will yield in re- 



26 How to Make the Church Go 

turn the desired recognition. A minister tells of 
an experience he had with an influential member 
of the congregation whom he had difficulty in 
approaching. The preacher could not tell just 
what was wrong but deliberately set out to find 
out. He called on the man and in the conver- 
sation a criticism of a sermon preached a few 
weeks before was made. The minister was quick 
to grasp the situation. 

"So you noticed that, did you?" he asked. "I 
knew it myself but thought no one else would 
get it. I can see that you are a good judge of 
sermons." 

He won his man for this man had the reputa- 
tion of being a connoisseur of good sermons and 
he wanted his ability recognized. Another may 
want his political strength recognized, another 
his ability to preside. Parents may be won if 
the ability of their children is recognized. As in 
the instance of John D. Rockefeller told by Fred 
Kelly, the man reacted to the recognition of his 
ability to interest children. 

Of course the desire for recognition sometimes 
approaches the ludicrous. A minister tells that 
during the war there was a certain Scotchman 
in the town who distinguished himself by having 



Forces Which Move Men 27 

four brothers killed in action. He went from 
church to church, told his story in the various 
meetings and delighted in being recognized a 
patriot. Another instance is of a woman who as 
a girl was trained in a select school. Although 
she is sixty years of age now it still requires 
some intimation of her superior education to get 
her at work in the church societies. 

III. Love of Ceremony 

The Protestant church is not very well 
equipped for the exercising of this social force. 
Our inheritance is a little too strictly intellectual 
and moral. Founded in a day of democratic im- 
pulses the prophecy was that eventually men 
would care little for titles of distinction or elab- 
orate ceremony. The prophecy has not been 
fulfilled. The enormous growth of lodges dur- 
ing the past hundred years is a pretty good indi- 
cation that there is an instinct in man which 
seeks the ceremonial. The social explanation of 
the lodge usually is that it is the sub-conscious 
outcropping of the days of middle ages when 
men sought for titles and ranks. So to-day we 
have our worshipful masters, noble-grands and 
other celebrities. 



28 How to Make the Church Go 

A parade brings out all sorts of orders, the 
members uniformed with bright colors and 
badges which would do tribute to the savages 
of Africa. The writer remembers watching one 
huge negro who was on the train en route to a 
convention of his order. He had no shoes on 
his feet but he had a scarlet uniform with a scar- 
let hat. A huge white feather was in the hat 
and he carried a sword in his hand. No un- 
trained native could have shown a keener de- 
light in a new piece of dress goods than did this 
American negro. This love of decoration and 
ceremony is, as Ross says, "a droll commentary 
upon a society that has found so much to ridi- 
cule in the infirmities of the old world.'' 

Since reading Bishop McConnelPs Public 
Opinion and Theology it seems easy to believe 
that the present day tendency toward a more 
ritualistic and ornate service of worship is in 
response to this love of ceremony. The difficulty 
is to arrange a service to give all a sufficient part. 
Still there is the opportunity for the ushers, the 
choir, the reception committee and in case of 
social meetings there is always the opportunity 
to appeal to those who will respond to this force. 
In the churches which provide for lay distribu- 



Forces Which Move Men 29 

tion of the elements there is the chance to utilize 
the frock coats with sufficient ceremony to inter- 
est this instinct. 



Chapter III: Forces Which 
Move Men (Continued) 

IV. Prestige and Imitation 

The value of having somebody in a movement 
who occupies a large place in the public mind is 
well known to most promotive agencies. In the 
letter which comes to the desk seeking aid for 
suffering cats there is always a list of honorary 
officers for no other purpose than to influence 
my support. I am much more inclined to con- 
sider the matter if it is endorsed by Senator 
Blank. If a church can get some prominent man 
to head a committee even though a secretary 
has to do most of his work for him it is usually 
a good move. Men like to serve on committees 
which will bring them in touch with prominent 
men. Many men are always talking about their 
acquaintance with Judge as if the work- 
ing with him also brings them the prestige. 

The man of prestige may be reached on the 
ground of his influence. As a rule, the large men 
of the land like to have their influence count 

30 



Forces Which Move Men 31 

in the right direction. If it can be pointed out 
to them that the mention of their name or their 
personal service will urge others to good work 
they are usually willing to give of their time and 
interest. 

The mass of people are apt to be very good 
imitators, in motion at least, of the great or near 
great. See the many little evangelists who mim- 
icked Sunday when he was in the days of his 
glory. Watch the hundreds of choir directors 
who were miniature Rodeheavers. Let the 
Prince of Wales change the style of his coat 
and immediately all the tailors of the realm have 
orders for the new styles. Mrs. Harding wears 
blue and all the ladies of the country seek for 
Harding blue. Many churchmen were brought 
into the Inter-Church World Movement because 
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was interested in it. 

So it is in religious activities. Let those who 
have prestige take an interest and the church 
world may become the very thing. If they stay 
out churches will have difficulty in interesting 
people. It is interesting to conjecture just what 
effect it would have on church work in general 
should some of our famous moving picture he- 
roes or heroines become interested in teaching 



32 How to Make the Church Go 

a Sunday school or leading a Christian Endeavor 
meeting. If the millions of young girls should 
follow their example as intently as do their style 
of hair dressing America might have a real re- 
vival of religion. 

V. Competition 

Everybody loves the game where the competi- 
tion is strong. The youngest child delights to 
put his ability against that of his brother or 
neighbor. And the same spirit persists until the 
end of life. The octogenarian is proud of his 
walking ability. The civil war veteran delights 
to show his marching strength in the parade with 
the veterans of the Great War. The writer re- 
members in a recent church drive seeing digni- 
fied elders long past middle life chuckling be- 
cause of a slight advantage their team had over 
a neighboring one. 

The church can use this spirit. Church com- 
petition is not an entirely bad thing. People 
can be moved to action by the play spirit of com- 
petition. Churches have learned from the war 
time drives of the value of assigning quotas to 
various churches allowing competition between 
them. Sunday schools and church societies have 



Forces Which Move Men 33 

iound membership contests of value in building 
up the various enterprises. People will be 
dragged out in a contest who will answer no 
other appeal. 

But the greatest appeal to the spirit is the 
contest between the forces of righteousness and 
sin. Let a temperance or law enforcement fight 
come and the minister can enlist new supporters. 
If he can show that he is continually fighting 
against enemies in the building of his organiza- 
tion the very spirit of competition will lead men 
to support him. Some ministers very cleverly 
display news of enemies they are fighting with- 
out asserting just who or what the enemies are. 
Perhaps they do not know. But it is sufficient 
to declare them to win support from some quar- 
ters. 

VI. Force of Public Opinion 

Public opinion does nearly everything. 
Bishop McConnell doubts that there has ever 
been a form of government which was not 
shaped by the opinion of the governed. Un- 
fortunately even in our day, public opinion is 
not always stable. Sometimes wise promoters 
create or unmake it for specific ends. But 



34 How to Make the Church Go 

when it is really once shaped, no man will stand 
against it. 

^^ After an overwhelming public opinion has 
been reached in consequence of adequate dis- 
cussion, the subject is dismissed from the atten- 
tion of society and the conclusion, entering the 
current of tradition, passes quietly from genera- 
tion to generation along with other transmitted 
beliefs and standards.'^ Ross. 

A minister's work is made difficult or easy 
according to the attitude of public opinion. The 
church should strike hard when the pendulum 
swings its way. Certain moral reactions in the 
world are now tending to emphasize the per- 
manency of the church as contrasted with the 
temporariness of human institutions. This can 
be used to advantage. And then there is a cur- 
rent belief which is becoming strong that the 
church, as has been taught by preachers, is the 
one institution between human society and 
chaos. 

A prominent contractor in one of our large 
cities who has never been noted for attentiveness 
to church was recently canvassed for a pledge for 
a new church building. His pledge came easily 
with an explanation. 



Forces Which Move Men 35 

"This war has opened my eyes to many 
things. I do not believe that any citizen has a 
right to be indifferent toward the demands of 
either the pubUc school or the church." 

VII. Fair Play 

This is a distinctly American characteristic. 
Says Henry Van Dyke: "The spirit of fair play 
in its deepest origin, is a kind of religion." And 
it certainly belongs to those nobler appeals 
which one can make for Christian service. Many 
of the social forces we appeal to are used not for 
themselves but for the end. This can be used 
for itself as well. 

The church stands for fair play in a world 
which is unfair. It claims to be free in a world 
where nearly every other institution is tied by 
conditions. Take the statement in the sermon 
by Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, "The ministry 
is not for sale/' is a tremendous appeal for the 
support of right thinking men and women. Gen- 
eral opinion has it that the press is subsidized 
for a purpose, that houses of entertainment are 
run for a profit, that wealth can buy verdicts of 
the courts. If the church can make an unpreju- 
diced appeal to the people of the world, standing 



36 How to Make the Church Go 

for fair play for all, there will be a tremendous 
response. 

VIII. Comradeship 

Mankind is hungry for friendship. The word 
friend has become one of the most sacred words 
of life. The church is one of the greatest friend 
making forces in the world. Its various societies 
draw men together, give an opportunity for 
youths and maidens to become acquainted and 
the working together in altruistic enterprises 
strengthens the friendship. 

The stock in trade of the average church is 
friendliness. Without it, it would be paralyzed. 
The church which can make an appeal that it 
has a congenial group of spirits at work and can 
back it up in actual practice has a mighty draw- 
ing force. Some would even question whether 
denominationalism plays as important a part in 
the selection of a church for worship as does 
friendliness. 

In the family of a certain Methodist minister 
there are four boys. Some time ago they were 
worshipping with four different denominations in 
four different cities. They were found in Pres- 
byterian, Unitarian, Baptist and Episcopal 



Forces Which Move Men 37 

churches. In each instance the same reason was 
given. They found congenial spirits. 

IX. The Inherent Desire to be of Some Service 
in the World 

Here indeed is a noble appeal and most men 
at some time or another have felt it. No one 
wants to die with the feeling that the world has 
been no better because he has lived. He wants 
to leave something in noble service to build up 
after he has gone. A grave marker is not suffi- 
cient. A man of limited means accompanied a 
party in the survey of a very active rural com- 
munity church. He became impressed with its 
possibilities. 

^^If I had a million dollars I would endow 
something like that in my own community/' he 
asserted. "But since I have not I will give what 
I have that in conjunction with others we may 
make our own work most worth while." 

A young man had recently been promoted to 
a foremanship in his shop. 

"Technically, I can handle the work all right/' 
he told his pastor, "but I want to do something 
to cast the right thoughts over the lives of the 
men.'' 



38 How to Make the Church Go 

And take the statement of Sergeant York, the 
war's greatest hero. He has been appealed to 
to pose for moving pictures at a large salary. 

^'I want to do something for Jesus Christ and 
his Kingdom/' is his answer. 

X. ^^The Love of Christ Constraineth Us^' 

Every minister would be delighted if he could 
deal with this quality with all of his workers. 
Unfortunately he cannot. Not all of them 
have felt the constraining love of Christ. But 
those who have will go all of the way. The 
others will go part way. They will work and 
help, led by some force or another. But it is 
only those who know this constraining love who 
will go to the point of sacrifice. 

But the minister should be constantly on the 
lookout for hearts which are being kissed by 
this love. The real strength of the church will 
be found in the band who are ready to go all of 
the way. And happy is that minister who has his 
tasks made lighter by the force of this appeal. 

"Moreover, a more excellent way show I unto 
you. If I speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels but have not love, I am become sounding 
brass or a clanging cymbal.'' 



Chapter IV: The Church 
Office 

The minister executive will have an office. It 
is as necessary as tools for the mechanic. The 
salesman may sell without a store but an exec- 
utive must have an office from which to direct 
his many salesmen and workers. The office may 
be in the parsonage, rectory, manse, hired room 
or the church, but to be effective in his field 
there must be an office with an opportunity to 
equip it reasonably well for his task. 

The traditional tasks of the ministry, espe- 
cially in the mind of laymen, were of two kinds, 
pulpit and pastoral. Churches in considering 
prospective ministers would seek to learn 
whether their candidate was a good preacher or 
a good pastor. In contrast to this the modern 
church looks to several phases as were men- 
tioned in the first chapter. For the two tradi- 
tional tasks he needed a church and a study. In 
the average church this study was located in his 

39 



40 How to Make the Church Go 

home easily available for himself. The transi- 
tion has not been reached by any means. There 
are many churches to-day contemplating church 
structures which provide for a minister's study 
in the new building but do not provide for a 
church office. On the other hand, the writer has 
a church of a thousand members in mind in a 
city of five hundred thousand which recently 
builded a church and labeled one room with a 
sign, ^^Church Office.'' The only use it is put 
to is to distribute envelopes from once a year and 
to store umbrellas on rainy Sundays. All of the 
real executive work of the minister is done from 
his home. 

The contrast between the old and the new 
can be seen from the announcements of two dif- 
ferent churches. 

"The minister would be glad to see any who 
may care to call upon him. His study is in the 
back part of the Chapel building, and may be 
reached by the stone path leading from the road 
running beside the chapel. Any one regardless 
of religious affiliation is most cordially invited.^' 

Contrast the invitation with this: 

"Church office with entrance on Green street 
open from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. Phone Oxford 647." 



The Church Office 41 

It was wise to announce the directions for 
reaching the study in the first instance, for one 
would have a difficult time otherwise to find the 
minister. In the second instance the office is 
within twenty feet of the side walk. 

The church office, preferably located in the 
church, should be easily accessible. There may 
be some exceptions to this, as in the one man 
office, when accessibihty to the office also means 
instant accessibility to the minister. But if the 
minister has a helper he can protect his own 
time and still meet the needs of the modern 
office. But the office should never be located in 
some out of way corner in the church which can- 
not be used for anything else, and which can 
only be reached by passing through the audi- 
torium or a number of rooms which would be 
puzzling to a stranger. As a newspaper man 
seeking interviews one can testify that it is usu- 
ally more difficult to locate the minister's office 
in a church than it is to locate the office of any 
business or professional man in a large office 
building. It is little wonder that the church 
secretary will look up rather surprised when one 
finally overcomes the winding halls and steps into 
the office of the prosperous church. 



42 How to Make the Church Go 

The great need of an office in the modern 
church organization is for centralization of its 
work. It has been stated that what business 
would consider chaos the modern church would 
interpret as democracy. It is true that in many 
churches with a treasurer living in one part of 
the town and the clerk living in another and the 
minister devoting his time in his study it is dif- 
ficult to tell just where things are at. The church 
office should have information at hand instantly 
in regard to the various activities of the church. 
It should be the natural place for people to seek 
information concerning the church. But it is 
well to recognize that any general rules laid 
down may not prove elastic enough to meet all 
conditions, so we will divide church offices into 
three classes as they are in operation to-day. 

1. The one man office. 

2. The office with one helper dividing time 

with other tasks. 

3. The fully equipped office with two or 

more helpers. 

The One Man Office 

Most church offices will be one man offices and 
the man in most of these offices is struggling with 



The Church Office 43 

more confusing detail than he can satisfactorily 
handle and will protest against any which will 
place burdens upon him. He feels the need of 
the office and labor saving machinery and pos- 
sibly has invested in some. Perhaps he has tried 
to save money for the church by purchasing a 
mimeograph or a duplicator for parish letters 
and has had more or less success in using it. Suc- 
cess in this respect usually means getting out a 
letter which is plain enough so that it can be 
read. All labor saving devices may have a place 
in the church office. Many churches use them 
with success but it may be doubted if they are 
a part of the one man office. 

The executive office must not be confused with 
an office for petty detail work and the minister 
must not devote his time to clerical labors. I 
know of instances where ministers print an- 
nouncements of various kinds for the church be- 
cause they have equipment and ability in that 
respect. But the executive office is not a print- 
ing establishment and the minister is not a prin- 
ter. He has a larger task than that. Again it 
may be doubted if the one man office should try 
to keep all of the various reports, church and 
financial, and prepare the various statistics. If 



44 How to Make the Church Go 

the minister becomes too much of a clerk he will 
become too little of an executive. 

Usually the one man office will be office and 
study combined. It will require some attention 
in an instance such as this to make the proper 
division of time and to have all things in an or- 
derly manner. It may require some effort to 
keep the prophetic spirit in the ministry under 
such conditions. But it is being successfully 
done. 

Equipment needed in one man office. 

1. Flat top desk. 

2. Typewriter. 

3. Five sets of files. 

(a) Communicant list. 

(b) Contact list. 

( c ) Correspondence . 

(d) Church reports and bulletins. 

(e) Officers' reports. 

4. Stationery, ink, pens, pins, paper clips, 
etc. 

6. Telephone. 

A desk properly used may be a complete office 
in itself. There are some patented desks which 
have files built into them. The average one can 
be utilized for filing with a little attention. The 



The Church Office 45 

present tendency is to keep the top of the desk 
clear for work. It is almost an axiom that the 
good executive has a clean desk. 

The typewriter is about the only mechan- 
ical device which is essential to the one man 
office. This is necessary for correspondence and 
for getting out copy for the printer. There will 
be more or less matter to be mailed to the various 
constituents during the year. Letters may be 
mimeographed and the copy will be prepared in 
the church office. Then it should be turned over 
to a commercial office for completion. There 
are several styles of these circular letters. The 
cheapest and probably the most unsatisfactory 
way is to mimeograph it. Then it may be print- 
ed. Then there are certain machines which con- 
tain type which do a good job. But the best style 
for the average circular letter is to submit the 
copy from the typewriter and have it matched in 
letter and color. Then each letter may be 
headed with the typewriter, giving the effect of 
a personal letter. 

The various files are simple and need scarcely 
a word of explanation. The use of the com- 
munion card will be explained in another chap- 
ter. The contact list is the larger list used for 



46 How to Make the Church Go 

recording calls. Two colors of cards are neces- 
sary here. One is for church members, the other 
for non members. This list may also include 
business houses and men with whom the church 
deals. Correspondence of importance will be 
preserved by carbon copy. It is well to keep all 
printed reports of church progress. While the 
one man office will not attempt to keep the offi- 
cers' records for them it will keep copies 
of their reports. Officers should be expected to 
present their reports in duplicate so that the min- 
ister may know just how every department of 
the church is standing. 

The telephone is a necessity and yet it may 
be abused. In many instances it is a loss of time 
and money. Much matter can be handled better 
by mail than by telephone. And with the service 
as it is given in many cities to-day much time can 
be wasted waiting to get the desired party. To 
get a man by telephone is apt to be fruitless un- 
less he is at home. If you leave word with the 
family the message will be forgotten or so 
changed that its meaning may not be evident. 
A letter, on the other hand, reaches the man 
and gives its message. Rates vary but in most 
communities a message by mail is cheaper than 



The Church Office 47 

one by telephone when everything is consid- 
ered. 

The Office with One Helper 

When a church gets a membership of around 
five hundred members the minister is usually 
granted a helper. The tasks of the helper are 
not very clearly defined and is dependent some- 
what upon the training of the person employed. 
Usually the assistant takes over the office de- 
tail, looks after certain organized work and 
makes more or less of the parish calls. There 
is a growing field here for young women who 
are attracted to the work of the church and have 
the ability and training to do the work. A 
woman will usually handle the clerical work bet- 
ter than a man and there are other reasons why 
a churchj if it can have but one assistant, should 
employ a woman. Every minister who has had 
a tactful woman doing parish work for him ap- 
preciates the value of a woman in the church 
machinery. 

When the minister has a helper the office 
should contain two rooms. The prophetic work 
of the minister requires a certain amount of soli- 
tude. His best sermons will be worked out when 



48 How to Make the Church Go 

he is by himself. The employment of a helper 
will make him a better preacher and better 
executive. Many inquiries at the office can be 
taken care of by the helper and the minister can 
protect his time. 

At this enlargement of the office new labor 
saving devices may be introduced. If the helper 
has had a business school training perhaps a 
mimeograph or printing machine may be a wise 
investment. An addressograph may be used to 
get mail out in a hurry. Some churches, how- 
ever, have a prejudice against any mechanical 
device which might cause a cheap appearance in 
mail which is sent out. 

Many of the detail matters which have been 
taken care of by the volunteer officers can now 
be taken over by the office. The church en- 
velopes can be ordered and addressed there. 
Sunday collections may be tabulated and the 
money banked. All church mail can be received 
and redirected to the proper person. Church 
societies can call on the office to help them out 
with announcements and letters. 

The Large Office 

For this section of the chapter we will consider 



The Church Office 49 

the new offices of the Westminster Presbyterian 
church, Buffalo, N. Y., a church of 1200 mem- 
bers. The staff consists of the pastor, an asso- 
ciate, a church visitor, and two secretaries. The 
offices occupy four rooms, two on the first 
and two on the second floor. The rooms 
on the first floor are for the associate and his 
secretary. Entering the offices one comes face 
to face with the secretary who is also the oper- 
ator of the telephone system in the church and 
parish house. Beyond this room is the office of 
the associate who devotes the greater part of his 
time to financial organization of the church. All 
of the treasurer's records are kept in his office, 
he receives the bills and has the checks drawn 
for the treasurer's signature. It is evident that 
with a budget of nearly $50,000 per year 
the treasurer must have some help like this 
if he is to have any time for his personal busi- 
ness. 

The office and study of the pastor are on the 
second floor, reached only by passing through 
the lower offices. Visitors are received only by 
appointment. Here the pastoral records of the 
church are kept, for Dr. S. V. V. Holmes, the 
minister, is the pastor as well as the preacher. 



50 How to Make the Church Go 

He is well protected with time for study and yet 
accessible when there is need. 

Two things attracted the attention of the 
writer in a recent visit to these offices. The first 
was the absence of any labor saving machinery. 
The idea is that the work turned out is cheap in 
appearance and does not make the impression 
which is necessary. Second was the bound vol- 
umes of the weekly bulletin by which any infor- 
mation concerning the history of the church 
could be instantly secured. 



Chapter V: The Minister 
and His Official Board 

In practically every modern form of local 
church government the minister finds himself in 
the center of a group of officials. These officials 
may have another chairman elected but this 
chairman is to a large degree dependent upon the 
minister for suggestions as to the purposes of 
the meeting. In other churches the minister will 
act as chairman of the board. There are advan- 
tages and disadvantages to both plans. If the 
minister is the chairman he is estopped by posi- 
tion from arguing from the floor on matters 
which he understands better than any one else. 
On the other hand, if he is on the floor he may 
lack the prestige which the chairmanship would 
give him. Then again the personality of the man 
may decide where he can be the most useful. 

But wherever he is placed, he is looked to for 

51 



52 How to Make the Church Go 

help in the practical points of the discussion and 
to point out the ways of accomplishment. 

There are six principles which the demo- 
cratic church board should jealously defend. 
They are — 

1. Free and open discussion. 

2. A fair and honest vote. 

3. A graceful yielding to the will of the ma- 

jority. 

4. Action. 

5. Complete records of proceedings. 

6. An understandable report of its activities 

to the congregation. 
The violation of any of these principles is apt 
to cause disorder among the members of the 
boards and in the end lack of confidence on the 
part of the congregation. 

First Step that of Organization 

The first step, of course, is that of organiza- 
tion. The church laws and procedure usually 
regulate the election of officers and assign their 
duties. Notices of the first meeting should be 
sent out by mail as should those of the succeed- 
ing meetings. There have been several ways of 
notifying members of the meetings to be held. 



Minister and His Official Board 53 

Some of these are indicated in reverse order of 
their usefulness. 

1. Have no regular meeting night but call 

people up when a meeting is desired. 

2. Have a regular meeting night and expect 

all to remember it. 

3. Announce it from the pulpit. If a man 

isn't there expect his wife to tell him. 

4. Notify members by telephone or person- 

ally. 

5. Mail out a form card reminder several 

days before the meeting. 

6. Send out an announcement by mail call- 

ing attention to the items of business 
to be considered. 

Calvary Presbyterian Church 
Mr. Robert Minnes, 

48 Ducater St. 
Dear Mr, Minnes: 

The next regular meeting of the church ses- 
sion will be held in the session room on Mon- 
day evening, April 8th. Among the important 
matters to be considered are : 

1. The suspension of certain members ac- 
cording to the disciplinarian form. 



54 How to Make the Church Go 

2. The group plan of organization. 

3. Our new benevolent quota. 

Very truly yours, 

Robert Harness, 
Clerk. 

It may fall to the task of the church office — 
it doubtless will if the office has a stenographer— 
to prepare these forms for the clerk, but experi- 
ence has shown that any announcement less than 
this does not get the efficiency that this plan does. 
The pulpit announcement reaches but a few peo- 
ple. The personal invitation is too informal 
when it is used continuously and it puts too 
great a burden upon one's time. Telephone calls 
are not very effective. Many times the person 
sought is out and the message is taken by some 
one else. The formal notice from printed stock 
gets to be an old story. The individual notice 
is the best for getting attendance and in the 
failure of any member to be present he at least 
knows what is taking place so that he cannot 
plead ignorance as to the affairs of the church. 

The minister will see that a proper docket for 
the business of the meeting is prepared. This is 
the duty of the chairman and the clerk but the 



Minister and His Official Board 55 

wise minister will know how to prepare the 
docket he wishes. It may be given as a sugges- 
tion to the chairman or the two will work it out 
together. The best way is to have a typewritten 
or printed copy of this docket for each member 
as he comes into the room. A less effective but 
satisfactory way is to use a black board to get 
the various matters before the meeting. The 
docket will not alone give the members the items 
to be considered but will unconsciously remind 
them that there is need of deliberation and dis- 
patch to accomplish the purpose of the meeting. 
It is the best remedy for idle talking and story 
telling which disgrace so many meetings that 
can be used. No one is going to ask, "Have we 
anything else to consider?" for he knows just 
what is ahead. 

(Sample) 
Docket for meeting, June 8. 
Reading of minutes of previous meeting for 
information. 

Reports of clerk and treasurers. 
Reports of special committees. 

1. On men's dinner. 

2. On summer pulpit supply. 



56 How to Make the Church Go 

Old Business. 

1. Summer Camp, 
New Business. 

1. Bills. 

2. Sale of the French St. Property. 

3. Letting contract with printer for weekly 

bulletin. 
Reading of minutes for approval. 

Be Thorough 

Each item of business should be disposed of 
before the next is considered unless there is a 
motion to change the order for some valid reason. 
When the time for adjournment comes every 
matter should be in its place as distinctly as the 
mechanic puts his tools in their places. The 
committees which have reported should be dis- 
charged. If new committees are to be appointed 
they should be appointed at the meeting or a 
definite agreement made that they shall be ap- 
pointed at such a time as is most convenient. 
The appointment of committee should have at 
least as much publicity as the decision to appoint 
such a committee. 

The good executive should have the motto 
^Tinis" constantly before his mind. We lose 



Minister and His Official Board 57 

more in church work by starting things we 
never finish than in almost any other way. The 
work of the board must be driven to the end. 
Committees must bring in reports and not alone 
accept appointments for certain tasks. From 
meeting to meeting they should be called to re- 
port progress and if progress cannot be made a 
note to that effect should be in the records. 

One of the most successful executives that the 
writer knows of lays considerable emphasis upon 
this one point. The officers of his church are 
supposed to reach every family in the church 
before each communion. The post communion 
meeting takes up each district and gets a re- 
port of the families. If one officer reports a 
certain family as ^^not there/' he is immediately 
instructed to find out where it is. Thus with 
an insistence on the finishing up of the work but 
a few families out of a total membership of 
2400 are out of touch with the church office. 

Members who do not attend the meetings of 
the board should eventually be dropped. But 
they should be retained until every means has 
been tried of getting them to seriously act. 
Sometimes the clerk of the meeting prepares a 
brief synopsis of the business transacted at the 



58 How to Make the Church Go 

meeting and mails it the next day to the absent 
members. Constant reminders such as the in- 
dividual notice and the report of the business 
frequently bring results. The reader is urged 
to study CJ;iapters II and III on forces which 
move men very thoroughly in the endeavor to 
exhaust every drawing force which is moral and 
legitimate before giving up any case as hopeless. 

The official board will be judged by the con- 
gregation more by the results it secures than by 
the fairness of its deliberations. The holding 
of the meetings to certain rules of order is neces- 
sary for the maintaining of morale in the body 
itself but its work cannot stop there. I have in 
mind a certain minister who as he was leaving 
the field indulged in some frank statements re- 
garding his officers. 

"Yes," he admitted. "You were the best 
group of voters I ever knew. You always voted 
me permission to do things." 

It further reminds one of the instance where 
the church officers voted to increase the salary 
of the minister. 

"Don't do it, Brethren, I entreat you. I have 
all I can do to raise my present salary. I am 



Minister and His Official Board 59 

sure that the increased burden will be more than 
I can stand." 

The generally accepted way to get the neces- 
sary action is through the appointment of com- 
mittees and their work. This will be treated 
in the next chapter. 



Chapter VI: Committee 
Organization and Manage- 
ment 

Function of Committees 

A committee is appointed to get something 
done. But there seems to be a broadcast opin- 
ion that if you want to impede the progress of 
any movement that it should be placed in the 
hands of the committee. One minister insists 
that a committee must have some relation with 
the committal service. Once committed a mat- 
ter is surely dead. 

A bank commissioner in Michigan, who had 
become annoyed at the intermediate delays 
which hampered committee work in public or- 
ganizations, once declared that he might define 
a committee as, ^^A thing which would spend 
a month doing what one man would accomplish 
in a forenoon.'^ 

And still the fact remains that a committee 
which knows its business and knows how to go 

60 



Committee Organization 61 

at it to get action is the most direct means of 
reaching the desired end. 

Special and Standing Committee 

There is a general swing to-day in favor of 
special committees in preference to standing 
committees. Standing committees are too apt 
to take their name seriously and consider immo- 
bility the chief virtue. They may not know just 
when their task begins nor where it ends. A 
special committee on the other hand is appointed 
for a certain task. Its work begins when the 
appointment with the statement of purposes is 
put into its hands and its work is finished when 
it makes its final report on the matter submitted 
to it. If a standing committee should prove in- 
effective the church is usually helpless until the 
expiration of its term of office. If a special 
committee proves abortive it is a simple matter 
to call for a report and discharge it, committing 
the further consideration of the subject to an- 
other special committee. 

When the Committee Is Named Give It its Task 
When the official board of the church author- 
izes a committee it does so for a certain task and 



62 How to Make the Church Go 

the committee must know just what that task 
is. The chairman as a rule will appoint the com- 
mittee. Sometimes the motion from the floor 
will include certain names which are to be in- 
cluded. At other times the minister will appoint 
the committees. A very wise plan is to have a 
committee on committees. This would be one 
of the few standing committees and would in- 
clude the chairman of the board and the minister. 
They must appreciate that their work is not 
done when a committee is appointed. They 
must see that it understands its task and that 
it works. Many motions are made in a hazy 
way and the committee may be misled in its 
task unless it is given to it in detail. 

Here is an instance of a church which voted 
at a men's dinner to formally organize a men's 
club in the fall of that year. The chairman of 
the meeting was authorized to appoint a com- 
mittee. When the appointment was made the 
following note was mailed to the chairman: 
^^DearSir: 

At a dinner of the men of the church 
held on Tuesday last a committee was au- 
thorized for the following purposes: 

1. To plan and provide for a similar din- 



Committee Organization 63 

ner in the fall to which all men of the church 
should be invited. 

2. To provide constitution and by-laws for 
a men's club to be presented for their consid- 
eration at that meeting. 

3. To nominate officers for the club, these 
nominees to be voted on at that meeting. 

You have been appointed as chairman of 
that committee with the following men to as- 
sist you." 

Here followed the names of the men on the 
committee and the letter was signed by the chair- 
man of the meeting authorizing the committee. 
With this statement before it there is no doubt 
in the mind of the committee as to its duties and 
its limitations. When the dinner is held and 
action taken on the constitution and by-laws 
and officers elected, the committee has completed 
its work. The directions are definite, with a be- 
ginning and an end. 

Who Shall Serve on Committees 

It requires skill to appoint working com- 
mittees. Some churches would require all com- 
mittees appointed by an official board to be 
members of that board. Others are satisfied 



64 How to Make the Church Go 

with a chairman from the board and the com- 
mittee drawn from the membership at large. 
The broader a committee is, the better for its 
work. 

1. The chairman must be one of executive 
ability, who knows what is to be done and how 
to do it. 

2. The committee should be broad enough in 
personnel to dissipate any complaint of clique 
control. 

3. The committee should always be ap- 
pointed with the future in mind. The eyes 
should be open to latent material. Give new 
material a chance to develop. When a person 
does good work on a committee try him higher 
up next time. Keep developing leaders. 

Getting the Committee Together 

Once it has been appointed the next task is 
to get the committee together to begin its work. 
In the instance of the committee just appointed 
it is comparatively easy to follow it in its pro- 
cesses. If it had a longer and harder task its 
work would be more complex but this makes an 
excellent instance for illustrative purposes. 

First, the members must be notified. Let the 



Committee Organization 65 

chairman select a date for the meeting and then 
send a note to each member similar to the one 
which was sent to him. The first meeting may 
be a short one merely for organization or to 
decide upon a time when all could devote some 
time to the proposition. More and more in 
the cities the luncheon hour is being utilized for 
such meetings. Where that is impossible an 
hour from an evening can be used to get started. 

Step by Step Analysis 

The step by step analysis is the program pre- 
pared by the chairman for the progress of the 
committee. The minister may have suggested 
the program for his consideration. It is simply 
a list of suggestions for the meeting to act on 
one way or another. 

FIRST MEETING 

1. What date shall we decide on for the din- 
ner? 

2. Shall a sub-committee be appointed to 
confer with any organization which might care 
to furnish the dinner? 

3. Shall a sub-committee be appointed to se- 



66 How to Make the Church Go 

cure and study copies of the constitution and 
by-laws of various church clubs for men? 

4. Shall a sub-committee; be appointed to 
present nominations at the next meeting of this 
committee? 

SECOND MEETING 

1. Report of the various sub-committees. 

(a) Dinner. 

(b) Constitution. 

(c) Nominations. 

2. Shall we appoint a committee to sell 
tickets or shall the whole committee act as a 
promotion committee? 

3. Shall we appoint a sub-committee on a 
program? 

When the dinner is held and the reports from 
the committee presented and accepted the com- 
mittee has finished its work. The meeting 
.should vote to discharge it with thanks. 

The Chairman Should Analyze His Task 

The good chairman is usually a man with an 
analytic mind. He must be able, not alone to 
have a vision of the work which is his, but must 



Committee Organization 67 

also be able to divide the work into practical 
details among the members of the committee. 
When the chairman lacks this quality the result 
is apt to be that he does all of the work with 
the other members of the committee looking on. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
(3) 



Advebtiset 



LADIES AID 

(3) 



Tickets Lt>NCHCON 



Games 



SESSION 
(3) 



SUNDAY SCHOOL 
(3) 



Entertainment 



S S. Trans. Tickets 



COMMITTEE ANALYSIS IN DIAGRAM 



Often times a chairman is helped by pre- 
paring a diagram like the one presented here 
which was used by the chairman of a committee 
which had a church picnic in charge. Here, he 
has his work divided among the twelve members 
of the committee. It is an aid to him and also 
helps each member to see the task as a whole. 
Many times when an able chairman is able to 
carry all of the details in his own mind such a 



68 How to Make the Church Go 

chart will help to bring his committee to an ap- 
preciation of its responsibilities. 

Saying ^^Thank You^^ Helps 

The wise executive will take pains to thank 
the chairman of a committee when the task is 
finished. Let him write a nice note of appre- 
ciation. It may encourage the chairman in turn 
to write to his helpers. Every human being 
likes to feel that he has done his task well and 
then — there may be use for him again before 
many months. 

Lucius E. Wilson in his treatise on committee 
management gives a warning against adjourn- 
ing without deciding upon the time and place 
of the next meeting. 

^^One important point to bear in mind is that 
no committee should ever adjourn before de- 
termining the time and place of the next meet- 
ing and the next step to be taken. In other 
words, no committee must be permitted to in- 
dulge in discussions without ending that discus- 
sion with a definite decision, even if the de- 
cision be no more than the determination of the 
next meeting and the next step. Discussion 
without decision is demoralizing." 



Committee Organization 69 

And again in the same treatise. 

^^The bane of the average committee is aim- 
less discussion. The next most serious draw- 
back is a member with a faculty for telling good 
stories. He is usually the chap who fails to come 
to the next meeting because the one which he 
succeeded in breaking up did not amount to 
much. This is where the program comes in, for 
it permits the chairman to hold the committee 
to its task. 

^^The idea for the secretary to have in mind 
in connection with committee meetings is this 
— to make every committee a real event, a gath- 
ering for the discussion of a vital problem at 
which measurable progress is madeJ^ 



Chapter VII: Keeping in 

Touch with the 

Congregation 

Of course the minister must not be so con- 
fined to the work of his board and committees 
that he forgets that he has a congregation. The 
rule still holds that a minister must know his 
people. If any addition has been made to the 
old saying of a "house going pastor makes a 
church going people" it is that the minister of 
to-day always has some task to keep his people 
busy at. The minister who always has in hand 
a reserve of healthy spiritual tasks for his people 
will have one of the keys of parish success. 

The minister who insisted that anybody who 

left his church would do so because they couldn't 

stand the pace had a good conception of human 

psychology. People may be easily grieved but 

they will hesitate to adflp^ that the reason for 

their grief is that they were not strong enough 

70 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 71 

spiritually to take their places in the ranks of 
the workers. 

A reserve of good healthy tasks may also help 
the pastor to test the sincerity of many of his 
loudest professors of righteousness. A story is 
told by one minister, who in the days of the war 
found a very patriotic woman who was not sat- 
isfied with the government, her church or any- 
body except herself. Her love for the poor sol- 
dierboys was immense. 

'^I would be so glad to see them coming back/' 
she insisted, ^^that if I should hear to-day that 
they were returning, I would crawl on my hands 
and knees for miles to meet them.'' 

^^That is splendid," said her pastor, "I wish 
that we had others of such noble sentiments. I 
was just at the Red Cross rooms and they have 
difficulty in finding women who will sacrifice a 
little time to knit. I will have to tell them about 
you. If you can't get to the rooms the yarn 
will be sent to you here." 

^^Oh, don't do that," explained the woman. 
^^You see I have a big house and I couldn't pos- 
sibly get time to knit. I say, let them that have 
less work do that." 

Another minister who was engaged in business 



72 How to Make the Church Go 

operations for a new church was constantly irri- 
tated by a man of the congregation who kept 
coming into the office to see how things were 
going and offer suggestions and criticisms. The 
committee was having difficulty in finding a 
bank to finance the proposition and this was his 
particular point of attack. 

The minister was wise enough to see his weak- 
ness and had him appointed on a special finance 
committee. He visited a half-dozen banks. With- 
out a good conception of business methods he 
failed, as was expected. But he at least kept 
quiet after that. 

There will be many opportunities of the per- 
sonal touch in the average congregation which 
gives the minister a chance to test his skill in 
handling men but of course such instances can- 
not be substituted for a good hold on a con- 
gregation. Wise and wide methods are neces- 
sary for the best results. The congregation must 
be kept informed and held. 

Pulpit Announcements 

The minister may utilize the time given for 
pulpit announcements to talk directly to his con- 
gregation upon vital church matters. Some min- 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 73 

isters are able to use five minutes in establish- 
ing an almost personal relationship with the 
parish in that way. Policies may be stated, the 
congregation admitted into the working secrets 
of ''the board/' reasons for certain actions ex- 
plained. Often times it is learned that members 
listen more intently to the announcements than 
to the sermon which is afterwards preached. 

There will of course always be announcements 
to make and the minister can have his judgment 
tested in the time he takes and the way he makes 
his announcements. It has become a thing of 
the past for commercial circulars to unduly 
boast. The tone of the best advertising of to- 
day is confidence. Moderateness in announce- 
ments will win over boastfulness in the end. And 
there is always danger of the minister putting 
too much strength behind an announcement in 
order to attract a crowd. 

"Please emphasize this/' people will say when 
they hand him an announcement. 

But if he is wise he will not readily yield to 
the giving of the valuable time of the hour of 
worship for a lengthy announcement of the var- 
ious enterprises of the church or various so- 
cieties. 



74 How to Make the Church Go 

Of course there is a limit to the pulpit an- 
nouncement as a publicity medium. Seldom is 
more than fifty per cent of the congregation 
present to be informed. There is also the pos- 
sibility of weak ears which may not hear cor- 
rectly. And the much slighter possibility of tired 
minds which will not comprehend the message 
which is being given. So the minister, for higher 
efficiency, must seek elsewhere. 

The Weekly Bulletin 

The bulletin has become an established insti- 
tution with many churches. They vary all the 
way from the one sheet announcer to an eight or 
ten page bulletin giving quick complete infor- 
mation on the various church activities. In one 
instance we have seen a bulletin which carried 
a complete sermon which had been preached the 
week before. The bulletin in its various forms 
and sizes offers a large opportunity for giving in- 
formation to the membership and an added dig- 
nity to the services of worship. 

A church of any size certainly needs a bulle- 
tin to keep the plans for the week before the 
people in an orderly manner. No person can 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 7S 

listen tc eight or ten announcements and be able 
to remember them all. The weakness of the 
bulletin is in its distribution. If a copy could be 
mailed to each home on Monday morning which 
was not represented at the service on Sunday, 
the efficiency would be somewhat increased. 

The United States Mail 

The mail offers the opportunity to complete 
the work of the bulletin by getting it more 
largely distributed. It will offer the quickest 
and most effective way of reaching the entire 
constituency of the church on other occasions. 
The following four mailing lists are suggested 
as adapted to the average congregation. 

(a) Families. Expensive matter can be ef- 
fectively distributed by families rather than as 
individuals. 

(b) Communicants. 

(c) Contributors. 

(d) Congregation. This would include all 
of (b) and (c) and other names of men and 
women who attend or are likely to attend the 
church services. This list contains the possi- 
bilities of the church's future growth. 



76 How to Make the Church Go 

The mail can be used for pastoral letters, re- 
ports, announcements, and many other items 
of interest. With the smaller churches a monthly 
leaflet distributed by mail may be a better in- 
vestment than a weekly bulletin. The small bul- 
letin is apt to give half of its space for the order 
of services which is really not necessary nor help- 
ful to the average worshiper. 

The mail offers the opportunity for a wide use 
of the referendum ballot. This is merely a ques- 
tionnaire sent to the membership at various 
times to sense the public sentiment on the church 
policies. The ballot is mailed out from the office 
with the request that it be filled in and returned. 
A large and a fair vote can be secured in that 
way. Here is an illustration of the possibili- 
ties of the referendum: 

(Letter) 
Dear Friend: 

The board is undecided as to the wisdom of 
a special series of revival meetings this winter. 
We need new life, that is sure, but we do not 
know how to get it. So we are appealing to 
the congregation. Will you give us some ad- 
vice, using the enclosed blank. Return it be' 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 11 

fore the first of the month using the addressed 
envelope enclosed. 

Very sincerely, 



(Ballot) 

Are you in favor of the church holding a series 
of special meetings with a hired evan- 
gelist? 

Should v/e hold such meetings with local help 
only ? 

Can you suggest any other way to create a new 
interest in our work? 

Signed. 

If it is not thought advisable to sign the letters 
have each ballot numbered and register the num- 
bers so that the information as to who is voting 
may be available. This is important in case a 
suggestion is made which may be acted upon. 
The person making the suggestion will probably 
be the best person to help carry out the plan. 

In sending out any list of material by mail it 
is well to always have one piece addressed to the 
church or to the minister's residence. This is a 
simple and effective way of checking up on Uncle 



78 How to Make the Church Go 

Sam to learn if he is distributing the matter as 
quickly as he should. 

Pastoral Visitation 

The minister still visits. The report of a 
church of 1500 with two ministers shows that 
1900 pastoral calls were made last year. The 
minister of a church of 1200 who has served the 
church for more than a quarter of a century 
advises that he still keeps his schedule of call- 
ing on each family once a year. Probably as a 
rule ministers call more than ever before. There 
may be a difference in the way the calls are made 
but the pastoral work of the average church is a 
heavy obligation. 

But assume that the minister reaches every 
family at least once a year. A lot of things can 
happen in a year. And the minister is aware 
that he does not begin to keep in touch with all 
of the instances of sickness, trouble, change of 
residence, business success or failure or even 
death. He is constantly finding himself in an 
embarrassing position when he makes his calls. 
A parish visitor is a help but even with the visitor 
there are too many opportunities of getting out 
of touch with the congregation. 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 79 

Group Plan of Organization 

The situation has been met to a considerable 
degree by what is known as the group plan of 
organization or the every member group plan. 
In its simplest form the parish is divided by dis- 
tricts into groups and a person appointed as over- 
seer over each district thus created. The work 
of the overseer is to keep in touch with the six to 
ten families in his district, reporting items of 
pastoral interest to the minister of the church. 

In the more complex form as is used in the 
larger churches, the groups are larger and the 
overseer or captain has several workers under 
him. His group, again, is divided and each 
worker given a smaller group to look after. The 
worker reports to the captain, he to the official 
board of the church. 

The introduction of the group plan makes 
possible the operation of the communion card 
to its highest degree. The communion card is 
a development from the communion token of the 
old countries but is used to encourage and regis- 
ter attendance at the services when the sacra- 
ment is administered. There is a card kept in 
the church office with the record attendance of 



80 How to Make the Church Go 

each member. Previous to the communion a 
duplicate is made out for each member. These 
are distributed to the various captains who will 
see that every home in the parish is visited and 
the card left. The announcement will be made 
of the service and the communicant's attention 
called to his previous record. In this way the 
homes are systematically visited, addresses 
checked up and a record of illness and absentees 
secured. The members attending the com- 
munion service bring their cards with them 
where they are collected and returned to the 
church office for recording. 

Every Member Visitation 

Another method frequently used to help out 
the pastoral work is an every member visita- 
tion of the parish on a selected Sunday afternoon 
by specially chosen and prepared workers. The 
parish is divided and the visitors sent out by 
twos. The method of selecting and training 
workers will follow somewhat that of conducting 
financial campaigns. A study of the chapter of 
campaigns will help one to secure the method of 
organizing for this work. 



Keep in Touch with Congregation 81 
Sample Cards 



COMMUNICANTS CARD 

Walden Presbyterian Church - Buffalo, N. Y. 



•DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME" 



Name 

Address 

District No 



Visitor _ 





Communion 


1921 


1922 


1923 


1924 


1925 


Remarks 


First 














Second 














Third 














Fourth 














Fifth 














Sixth 














NOTE: Be sure to place this card on the collection plate Communion Sunday. 
Members absent the entire year from the Lord's Table without satisfactory rea- 
sons, are regarded by the Session as delinquents. 

Code: (P) Present; (A ) Ab«ent from town ; (S) Sick ; (E) otherwUe excused; (Blank) No record. 



communicant's card (Face and Back) 



Chapter VIII: A Working 
Program for the Church 

A merchant once had a sale. It was a big 
event for his store. Old customers took ad- 
vantage of it and many strangers, intent on bar- 
gains, found their way there. When the sale 
was over the strangers came back no more while 
most of the old customers stayed on. Things 
went quickly back to normalcy. The mistake 
of the merchant is apparent to every business 
man. It was not a part of a constructive pro- 
gram but rather a stunt by itself. The ex- 
perience of the merchant reminds us of the 
experiences of many churches. 

The church has a special season. Perhaps it 
is a revival, or a rally day, a fete, an old mem- 
ber reunion, a dedication, or a hundred other 
things. It is a big event in itself and everybody 
gets excited. But things go back quickly. When 

82 



Working Program for the Church 83 

the evangelist leaves the field he urges the church 
to care for his converts. ^^I have done my part, 
now you must do yours/' he insists. He is right. 
Churches lose more by spending their energy 
upon stunts than in most any other way. People 
get to expecting something new and novel or the 
church interest lags. 

It is told that in one of the churches a new 
minister sought to interest his board in the plans 
for the new year. He suggested several plans 
and none of them met with whole-hearted ap- 
proval. Finally one good brother gave the pic- 
ture of the situation. 

^'We have tried everything that we have ever 
seen or heard of. Unless we can get something 
new and novel, I suggest that we spend this 
year trying to make our regular services as in- 
teresting as possible." 

The layman spoke more truly than he imag- 
ined. There is a danger in the appeal to the 
novel and spectacular — unless it be part of a 
broad program which will weave all of the ele- 
ments into a good finished piece of goods. 
Stunts may tide a church over a few hard days 
but a real program of activities is necessary to 
give a permanent and constructive success. 



84 How to Make the Church Go 

What Program Shall We Have? 

There are several major lines of activity which 
the church usually engages in. But in selecting 
a program for the year, it is well to have one 
major and several minor activities. A church 
may attempt too much as well as too little. The 
minister is apt to credit the human mind with 
more ability than it possesses. It takes some 
time and training after the mind grasps an in- 
tellectual truth before it becomes a moral asset. 
It is not valuable for religious purposes until it 
passes from the intellectual to the moral. Many 
programs fail because the church, itself, does not 
understand what it is trying to do. 

Have one big thing which it is trying to do in 
the year. The object may be: 

1. Increase in church membership. 

2. Instituting a better financial system. 

3. Improving the agencies of religious educa- 

tion. 

4. Creating an interest and enlarging gifts for 

the benevolences of the church. 

5. Building a men's organization. 

6. Securing civic improvements. 



Working Program for the Church 85 

7. Building a community house or a new 
church. 

Or any one of several other legitimate activi- 
ties of the church. 

At times any accepted program must be 
thrown aside for an emergency program. The 
building may burn. At once the new building 
becomes the major plank of the program. The 
surprise which is often times expressed when a 
weak church rallies at the time of the fire is 
natural. But the strength shown is but an in- 
dication of the moral strength of any church 
when everybody is agreed upon the program of 
activities. 

Whose Program Is It? 

The instance above suggests that the strength 
of a church depends upon the unanimity with 
which the program of the church is adopted. A 
minister may be able to demonstrate to the sev- 
eral senses the wisdom of any program which 
he may like to have the church adopt but unless 
it is really desired by the church his talk and 
labor are apt to be fruitless. There must be more 
or less smiling in the heart of the congregation 
when a minister arises in the pulpit and an- 



86 How to Make the Church Go 

nounces that the church is going to do so-and-so. 
The men in the pews know better than the 
preacher just what the church will do. 

It may be possible for the referendum ballot 
to help reach a decision as to what the program 
of a church should be. The American City 
Bureau in its course for instruction of commer- 
cial secretaries places much strength in this 
method of learning the wishes of the members. 
A letter with a ballot might be sent out asking 
each member to tell what he thinks is the big 
work for the church for the year. If a record is 
kept of the votes and voters the minister will 
know where to go to get help from those who 
advocated certain lines of activity. 

Whether this plan is followed or not it is al- 
ways well to be sure that the heart of the church 
is with the program which is being attempted. 

Take Time to Do It Well 

Don't try to do a year's work in a month. 
Psychological processes like agricultural process 
take time. Each month should record progress 
but too rapid progress like too fast ripening fruit 
denotes an abnormal condition. The church 
like the individual which tries to be a "jack of 



Working Program for the Church 87 

all trades" will probably be master of none. 
Having decided upon a major plank place that 
ahead of all things else. Remember that after 
all a year in the kingdom of God is a short time. 
Make it count for thoroughness rather than for 
motion. 

Any program which is selected will require 
more or less publicity before the congregation 
will comprehend it. Get people thinking about 
it and don't accept hasty opinions as final. Re- 
member the husbandman in the parable who 
sowed the seed and then slept and rose night and 
day but the seed grew of itself. Give the seed a 
chance to grow. Don't give the battle call be- 
fore the troops are ready. Don't kill the goose 
which lays the golden eggs. Study mental reac- 
tions and depend on them as the savage does in 
physical force or the chemist on acids and poison. 

At a recent Sunday school convention a worker 
made a confession which ministers would do well 
to heed. He had a program for his Sunday 
school. It included the grading of the school. 
He asked for its adoption and as usual was 
granted the thing he asked for. That was easy. 
At that time he couldn't see why every school 
could not be graded as easily as his. But his 



88 How to Make the Church Go 

troubles were just beginning. He was dealing 
with a village church which knew little about the 
gradations familiar to the city teacher and 
pupil. They wanted to do the right thing but 
they did not understand. People must learn 
some things for themselves. As a result in the 
end the school went back to the old form of or- 
ganization and methods. 

Asked what he would do if he had another 
chance, the worker replied: 

^^I would take at least a year in an attempt to 
give the leaders of that school an adequate idea 
of what we were trying to do." 

The chances are that if he had taken the year 
that he would not have had to urge the change 
but that the school would have demanded it. 

The executive must have the quality of divine 
patience. This chapter offers no solace to the 
individuals who delight in monotony and idle- 
ness. A church should register progress every 
month. But it is a plea for the natural laws to 
have time to work. Watch Cromwell as he held 
back his impatient Ironsides until the time was 
ready for them to strike. Learn the lesson of 
the driver who will not let his horse kill itself in 
the first quarter of the mile. Learn the lesson 



Working Program for the Church 89 

of patience and time. Any church will be sat- 
isfied if it can do one big worth-while thing 
every year. 

The Seasonable Program 

The church year like the agricultural year di- 
vides itself into seasons. The department store 
learns the lessons of the seasons and times the 
appeal of its show windows. So the minister will 
time the appeal which the church makes. 

^The farm year begins with the spring and 
ends with the autumn. The church year with 
equal distinctness begins with the autumn and 
ends with or at least finds its climax in the 
spring." McGarrah, A Modern Church Program. 

THE SEASONS OF THE CHURCH YEAR 

Autumn. — The new chance which is offered 
every minister. The season for the beginning 
of things and the getting of everybody back to 
church. 

The Winter. — Social season. Revival and 
extra services. Everybody at work in the organ- 
ization. 

The Spring. — The spiritual touch. The 
Easter ingathering. 



90 How to Make the Church Go 

The Summer. — Vacation Bible schools. Re- 
laxation. Planning for the new year. The sum- 
mer is to the minister as the winter is to the 
farmer. 

A Yearly Program 

Purpose of major plank: To increase the 

membership of the church to members. 

This object was discussed in the preceding year 
and adopted in the spring by the official board 
of the year as a program for the following 
year. 

1 . The month of September is the month for 
training. The congregation is informed of the 
plans through the sermons. Personal workers 
are secured for an every member visitation. 

2. The every member visitation is made on 
the first Sunday in October. The rally day is 
the Sunday following. The visitors urge all 
members to be present at that service. 

3. Rally Day. An immediate goal is pres- 
ented for an increase in the church attendance. 
Members present are asked to make pledges to 
be made in service. The pledges are: 

(a) To attend one service every Sunday. 

(b) To attend two services every Sunday. 



Working Program for the Church 91 

(c) To invite a non-member each week to 

attend as a friend. 

(d) To serve on a personal visitation com- 

mittee under the direction of the pas- 
tor. 

(e) To pray for the success of the campaign. 

4. Letters containing the pledge cards were 
mailed to all members who were not present. 

5. The church organized socially for get-to- 
gether parties. A special effort is always made 
to interest prospective members in these parties. 

6. The formation of prospective member 
lists. These lists are prepared in confidence and 
given out to pledges workers only. The workers 
meet for several weeks for instruction in their 
work. 

7. The week of prayer — ^passion week. In- 
tense personal work. 

8. The Easter ingathering. 

This program carried out faithfully with the 
variations which are necessary for local condi- 
tions has helped many churches to increase their 
membership. The author used it in the year of 
1917-18 with an increase of 61 per cent in the 
church membership. Correspondence with other 
churches the following year showed that it was 



92 How to Make the Church Go 

used successfully by churches all over the coun- 
try, in cities and villages. 

It is a program for but one year and some 
other phase of church work should have the 
major interest the following year. Either the 
financial, benevolent or religious education pro- 
gram would follow very well. 



gii!i!iiiiiiiiiiiiia!iiiPli 




For God . For Cliurcli For Country 



IN consideration of tlie efforts to bring tKe avenge attendance 
of the WALDEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH to 175 for tte 
Morning Services and 125 for tKe ^vening Services. I Lereby 
Aubscribe in service, payable in ^weekly instaliments tbe amount 
above my signature. Tbis pledge ia for tbe period October 1st 
to November 3 1 et. 

[CHECK EACH ITEM YOO AGREE TOJ 

.1. Xo attend one service eacb Sunday. 
S. lo attend two services eacb Sunday. 

3. To invite eacb Sunday som« non-attendant to accompany me. 

4. lo serve under tbe direction of tbe Pastor on a personal 
visitation committee if sucb be organized. 

,5, To pray eacb day for tbe success of tbu campaign. 



Signed.- 
Addresi 



THIS PART SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE PASTOR 
PUT IT ON THE COLLECTION PLATE 



(THIS PART MAY BE KEPT FOft 
YOOR OWN COVENIENCE) 

COUPONS 



No. 1 

One Service Eacli 
Stwday 



No. 2 

Two Services Each 
Sunday 



No. 3 

Invite Someone to 
Accompany Me 



No. 4 

Serve on Visitatioo 
Committee 



No. 5 

Daily Prayer 



HERE IS A TYPICAL LOYALTY BOND TO BE USED IN CAMPAIGNS FOR BETTER CHURCH 

ATTENDANCE. THIS ONE IS PRINTED ON A GOOD GRADE OF SAFETY PAPER 

WHICH AIDS TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A COMMERCIAL BOND 



Chapter IX: The Financial 
Campaign 

Following the form of treatise in the other 
chapters of the book this chapter devoted to the 
financial campaigns lays down the principles for 
all other campaigns of the church. Especially 
should the preceding chapter be related to this 
for a campaign can never exist apart from the 
program of work of the church. It is a special- 
ized form coming at the right time with the 
field properly prepared for it. The campaign 
implies intensive team work. It is the day of 
the test — of the race. But all days leading up 
to it are important as are the days which follow. 

If in the preceding chapter the program of 

work had dealt with a financial program rather 

than the program for increasing the membership 

it would likewise have covered the church year. 

There would be the consideration by the trustees 

for the needs of more revenue and an increasing 

emphasis upon the obligation of stewardship. 

93 



94 How to Make the Church Go 

The sermons in the fall would be devoted to it. 
Constant illustrations would show the duty and 
pleasure of giving. Classes would study books 
on stewardship such as McConaughy's Money y 
the Acid Test. Publicity matter dealing with 
the church dollar would be used. In fact the 
whole machinery of the church would make that 
phase of church work the major plank for the 
year leading up to the canvass. The campaign 
itself is the intensive day or week which tells. 

The preliminary work of the finance com- 
mittee will consist in preparing an adequate bud- 
get for the following year and a comprehensive 
report of the moneys contributed for the year 
that is passed. It will include a tabulation on 
cards of the contributions of each member which 
may be put in the hands of the solicitor. Also 
the necessary pledge cards and envelopes will 
be taken care of in advance. A good form of 
solicitor's cards with information regarding each 
family to be visited is shown by the sample card. 

Sample Card 

These cards can be filled out in advance in the 
church office which will take charge of most of 
the printed distribution of the campaign. 



The Financial Campaign 95 



•I !■ mnr ) mabn 



SOLICITOR'S CABD-Omfidential 

(Mttic not baihevm) 



Ctff'^ 


• 


ij 


'WEEKLY SVBSCRimON 




bXTtir 


TlT,!^ 


Sicmd 


AJ4^ 


Ck. ML 


^\u^. 


a. 


BmI 


Hmtmad 




— 


— 














Wif. 




C3Mtnmt Hmm 


Ag. 


— 
































— 








= 




Otixn in HouHhotd 


— 

























•AMKlt pmte3lr ntariM tkoalii ki RW ki ta near* 



NOTES 



Date. 



.Dtttrkc 



.Cenvasfss 



(OVBIO 



solicitor's card (Face and Back) 



96 How to Make the Church Go 

Getting Workers 

The printed matter on hand, the budget 
adopted, the next step is the appointment of a 
special campaign committee. The chairman of 
this committee will need to be a leader in the 
largest sense for he will have the large working 
force under him for the time of organization 
and the day of the campaign. Having ac- 
cepted the appointment the next thing is to get 
the workers. 

The practical way to do this is to take the list 
of the men of the church and count every one 
as a possible worker in the campaign. It is safe 
to assume that all will not work but the more who 
volunteer the quicker and cleaner the work can 
be conducted. A letter can be prepared to be 
mailed to these prospects. If a dinner or lunch- 
eon can be planned for the time of the meeting 
for instructions the volunteers are apt to be 
more numerous. 
Dear Friend: 

The trustees of the church recently voted to 
hold the annual every-member canvass of the 
congregation on Sunday afternoon, March 
6th, and I was appointed as chairman of the 



The Financial Campaign 97 

special committee to direct the canvass. We 
plan to make it complete in the afternoon and 
to report at the church at 6: 30 o'clock that 
evening. With fifteen teams of two men each 
we can easily cover the parish in the after- 
noon. 

You have been selected as a member of one 
of these teams. A preliminary meeting of all 
of the workers has been called for Wednesday 

evening at 8 o'clock. Mr. has asked 

us to be his guests at a dinner to be held 
at that hour. The budget will be talked over 
and the lists assigned to the workers. He is 
planning for a place for you at the table that 
night, so be sure to be there. If you cannot, 
let me know. 

Very sincerely, 

Chairman of the Committee. 

The men who will respond to the dinner 
invitation will be practically the men who will 
be on hand for the canvass. Copies of the new 
budget should be explained and the forms of the 
cards to be used discussed. If the church has 
the group plan organization captains for the 



98 How to Make the Church Go 

various territories may be assigned at that time. 
If they are to go out two by two, reporting to a 
common head, the territory can be held until 
later. If necessary a second meeting for in- 
struction should be held. It is well to impress 
upon the workers what the average pledge must 
be to raise the budget desired. 

Notifying the Congregation 

Carefully prepared publicity distributed to 
the members of the church will help pre- 
pare the ground for the workers. At least one 
letter should be sent to contributors notifying 
them of the date of the canvass and enclosing a 
copy of the budget for their consideration. The 
church seldom loses by letting the contributors 
know what the money is wanted for. Open 
diplomacy pays in church relationship. Here 
is a good type of a letter to use in writing con- 
tributors: 

Dear Friend: 

The Every-Member Canvass of the congre- 
gation will be made next Sunday afternoon. 
The budget enclosed is the goal to be reached 
in the campaign. 



The Financial Campaign 99 

There are several things which you can do 
to help make the effort a success. 

1. Be at home if possible. Our canvassers 
have a right to expect to complete their work 
in the day. Like the rest of us they are busy 
men. If you can't be at home that day make 
your pledge before Sunday or Sunday morn- 
ing. We want to count it in the total sub- 
scribed for the day. 

2. Study the budget. There are no frills 
in it. If it isn't covered by pledges, essentials 
will have to be cut out of the church program. 

3. Make an honest pledge for both the 
local church and benevolences. The policy of 
the Protestant church is not to place heavy 
burdens upon its people but it has a right for 
honest consideration of its needs. 

4. Keep pleasant and send the workers on 
their way with a smile. "The Lord loveth 
a cheerful giver. '^ 

Yours for the success of the drive, 

Chairman, Special Committee. 

The Day of the Campaign 
The canvassers will attend the morning wor- 



100 How to Make the Church Go 

ship and come to the altar at the close for ded- 
ication to their task. They will receive sufficient 
pledge cards and will have the information card 
for every party they are to call upon. The en- 
tire morning service can well be devoted to the 
thought of stewardship or the particular task of 
the local church. 

Have a dinner for the solicitors at the church 
upon their return at 6:30 o'clock or at some 
other convenient hour. The secretary of the 
committee can tabulate by means of a black 
board the returns as they come in. Playing 
group off against group will add to the interest 
which is usually developed. Canvassers will be 
inspired to rush right back to see if absentees 
have returned home. The force of competition 
will bring the last one in at a time like this. 

It may be well to warn against expecting let- 
ters by themselves to get results in a canvass 
such as this. The letters prepare the way. Per- 
sonal solicitation gets the results. Letters do 
not have the appeal that they had before the 
frequent use which is made of them to-day. A 
great public service corporation has just opened 
its stock books to the public. 84,000 letters were 
sent out to prospective buyers. But 100 people 



The Financial Campaign 101 

responded. A brokerage house reports that it 
sent out 600 letters to prospective customers and 
had six repHes. Letters have a big place but they 
must be followed by personal workers. 

After the Canvass 

Tabulate the returns so that they will be 
available for everybody. 

Make sure that you have a system of book- 
keeping which the contributors will have confi- 
dence in. 

File the solicitors^ cards for the next year. 

Thank the canvassers. 



Chapter X: A News Space 
Clinic 

The public press may well be a big asset to 
the average working church. It offers one of 
the best channels for the distribution of inter- 
esting events and features of church life. Many 
criticisms are made of various papers because 
of the little space which they give to church 
news. Many of these criticisms are unfair and 
are made by men who do not understand the 
spirit of the paper nor the pressure under which 
the average editor works. It is not difficult for 
the paper to get stories to fill its pages. Even 
if the average daily did not employ a single re- 
porter there would be plenty of news presented 
by various individuals and institutions to fill the 
columns if that is all that is necessary to make 
a paper. 

The average editor wants news and he wants 
interesting feature stories. If he can get them 
he will publish them whether they deal with the 
church or not. If the churchmen can point out 

102 



A News Space Clinic 103 

real stories of news value there will be little diffi- 
culty in breaking into the pages of the average 
daily paper of to-day. 

Country and Village Journals 

The same thing is not always true of rural 
papers. Many times they lack material to fill 
their pages. Some buy the matter from syndi- 
cates already blocked. That saves typesetting 
and labor costs. Here is an opportunity for 
the minister and church to keep itself constantly 
before the eyes of the villagers. The average 
country paper runs a church column. This col- 
umn gives the hours of service and some times 
makes the announcements for the week. Too 
often this is thought sufficient but it is not mak- 
ing the most of the offered space. 

The minister would do well to go to the pub- 
lisher and ask him if he will give space to inci- 
dents and even sermonettes given in a catchy 
way which will make people read them. The 
manager of a vaudeville house insists that he 
would be glad to put a minister on the program 
if he can find one who will deliver a punchy ser- 
mon in ten minutes which will make people 
think. The average newspaper manager will do 



104 How to Make the Church Go 

as well. These items may advertise the church 
for people will read them if they are gotten out 
in a pleasing way. We clip the following from 
a rural weekly. It was one of many published 
in the church column: 

The following things help to make worship 
worth while: 

1. A pleasant, artistic and dignified building 

with good light and ventilation. 

2. Courteous ushers who do something be- 

sides passing the collection plate. 

3. Good music. Anthems which touch the 

heart and hynms which mean some- 
thing. 

4. Sermons which are thought provoking and 

alive, but always reverent and worship- 
ful. 

5. A real welcome. Not the formal icy grip, 

but that which makes one feel at home. 

6. A pleasant after feeling. Coming out of 

church ought not to be like coming out 
from an anaesthetic. 
We want our services to measure up to this 
standard. Help us do it. 
Come early if you want a back seat. 



A News Space Clinic 105 

An article like the above is read and it violates 
no standards of good taste. 

Some churches have found that a series of 
questions are usually thought provoking and 
create an interest. Rev. Paul F. Boiler in the 
Presbyterian church at Lancaster^ New York, 
has devoted his evening services to the answer- 
ing of questions placed in the question box by 
the congregation. He insists that the fact of 
the publication of the questions the preceding 
week in the local paper has made the success of 
the services possible. 

In one issue we find the following questions 
submitted for answer by the pastor: 

1. Are labor unions selfish? Are they a 

menace to America? 

2. What are some of the conditions necessary 

for a happy marriage? 

3. How do you account for the present dearth 

of candidates for the Christian minis- 
try? 

4. What do Presbyterians to-day believe 

about ^Tredestination"? 

5. Some times we hear people speak of God 

as being far off in the skies and again 



106 How to Make the Church Go 

he is referred to as being on this earth. 
If there is a God where is he? 



An announcement such as this given week by- 
week cannot but help to create an interest in 
those services of the church. There is some- 
thing about a question which will set a person 
thinking more than a simple statement. A single 
sermon may be announced by a series of ques- 
tions rather than by the subject alone. 

Whose World Js This? 

"Does there ever come a time in human his- 
tory when God intervenes in the affairs of 
men? Is it true that at times, tired of blood- 
shed and wickedness that He overrules hu- 
man agencies for the sake of righteousness? 
What about Joan of Arc? What of Provi- 
dence spring? What about Georges Guy- 
nemer? These fascinating stories form a part 
of the sermon at the First Methodist church 
next Sunday night." 

The editor of the local paper wants people to 
read the paper and he is usually in sympathy 
with all village institutions. Help him to make 



A News Space Clinic 107 

his paper interesting by making the church an- 
nouncements interesting and both church and 
paper will profit. 

Getting Into the City Papers 

Many churches pay for display space in the 
Saturday papers of each week. The rates vary 
according to circulation of the paper and the 
real value of the advertisements is as yet prob- 
lematical. It will depend a great deal upon the 
location of the church and just what they have 
to advertise. It is generally conceded that the 
story space in a newspaper is better publicity for 
any institution than the paid display space. Any 
theater would prefer to have the pictures of its 
players shown in the dramatic columns than to 
have a similar amount of display advertising. 

A visit to the office of the average newspaper 
concerning space will invariably bring the answer 
that anything that has news value will be used. 
There is however apt to be considerable differ- 
ence of opinion between the churchman and the 
editor as to what constitutes news value. The 
churchman may be right but the editor controls 
the paper and is in the better position to decide 
what people care to read. The wise minister 



108 How to Make the Church Go 

will recognize the editor's position and respect 
his judgment. 

The editor means by news any story which 
has sufficient human interest to cause people to 
read it. The newspaper is not a literary maga- 
zine. It has one big function — that of publishing 
news. Sermons are not news, even though they 
be good enough for the homiletic magazine. 
Discussions are not news. Conventions are only 
news when the human , interest-drawing element 
enters in. Usually it is there if one knows how 
to look for it. 

There may be big news value in a sermon. 
Let us suppose that Dr. Blank wants to preach 
a sermon on blue laws. The main point he 
wants to make is that Christ was an enemy of 
Sabbath blue laws and violated the letter of 
several. Dr. Blank feels that he has a mes- 
sage which the people should know about and 
sends a copy of his sermon to the press. It isn't 
printed and he feels grieved. Let us suggest a 
new way to Dr. Blank. Send the sermon a 
couple of days ahead of time to the editor of the 
paper. With it enclose a letter calling attention 
to the main point. Mark with pencil two or 
three passages which present the matter in quick 



A News Space Clinic 109 

telling strokes. The chances are that it will have 
space in the Monday paper. 

Billy Sunday always gets news space. The 
tabernacle meetings are news. But Billy Sun- 
day does not wait for the paper to visit the meet- 
ings to take the sermons in short hand. As good 
news value as his meetings are he always pre- 
pares copy for the paper and has it on hand the 
day before. He makes it easy for the papers to 
feature his work. 

Finding the News Feature 

As a newspaper writer the author was once 
under contract to present the work of a denomi- 
nation week after week for newspaper publi- 
cation. The understanding was that the ar- 
ticles were to stand or fall on their story value. 
Yet the subjects included many things which 
might not look like news at first glance. 

For instance, one of the churches to be ad- 
vertised in news space was about to build a new 
community house. It had outgrown its quarters. 
There were, of course, dozens of churches in the 
city which were in a similar condition. Some 
people expressed surprise that this church, with 
its bad location next to the baseball park should 



110 How to Make the Church Go 

care to invest more money on its present noisy 
site. 

That in itself made the story. Investigation 
showed that the church had bought ground from 
the ball club for its proposed structure. We have 
always heard of churches retreating before base- 
ball parks but here is one actually encroaching 
on the ball ground. With that ^^slant'^ it made 
a good story. The headlines the editor used, 

for the editor always writes the headlines, were: 

Church Encroaches on Baseball Park by 
Community Work 



COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN SUFFERS GROWING 

PAINS AS MEMBERSHIP AND SOCIAL 

EFFICIENCY INCREASES 

Another phase of the work to be touched upon 
was the missionary work with the nearby Indian 
reservations. The history of it was more or less 
technical. But one day the old missionary died. 
His dying prayer was made as he was clasping 
the hands of an Indian friend. Here was per- 
sonal element which could be used. According 



A News Space Clinic 111 

to the editor the only trouble with that story was 
its briefness. 

If one will constantly keep his eyes open for 
interesting stories he will find many ways to get 
his church into the public press. The thieves 
who bring back the communion silver make good 
copy. The payment of an outlawed church 
pledge may be interesting. There are many fas- 
cinating stories about a church if one would try 
and get the newspaper spirit and find them. 

How to Get the Story Into the Paper 

Now that you have the story how will you get 
it into the paper? Frankly the best way is to 
have an acquaintance on the staff who will write 
it up for you. I happened to mention to a re- 
porter friend of mine that our box in the en- 
trance of the church, which had been placed 
there for questions had been stolen. The box 
had been remodeled from a contribution box and 
was easily mistaken for one. 

^^But they are welcome to it/' I added, "may- 
be they can answer some of the questions which 
I can't.'' 

A couple of days later there was a little edi- 
torial on the affair showing the poetic justice 



112 How to Make the Church Go 

visited upon the thieves. It was good publicity 
because I had a friend. 

If you can't secure such acquaintance the next 
best thing is to prepare the material or have 
some one prepare it for you and mail it signed 
to the city editor of the paper. Be sure and sign 
it or it will receive scant consideration. The 
chances are that it will not be used as it is sent 
in. Possibly it will not be used at all. Maybe 
the very part you want published will be omitted. 
Editors act that way some times because they 
are human and have limitations. But if you 
really have a story it may be used. 

Let me suggest something for churches which 
use paid display space. Send a news item along 
with your copy for the advertisement. Make 
it as strong as you want to and it will usually 
have a place in the news items. The paper of 
course must recognize that courtesies are due 
advertisers. 

Sermons are not always news. Sometimes 
they are and some men's sermons always are. 
The minister who is constantly quoted in the 
paper may find many changes made which he 
feels are unjust. The remedy for this is to have 
his stenographer prepare copy for the paper and 



A News Space Clinic 113 

insist that it be printed as it is given. Not every 
minister can demand this right. Some can and 
when they are prominent enough an agreement 
will be readily made by the paper. 

Here are, first, the copy from a sermon mailed 
to the city editor on Friday and the report of the 
sermon which was printed the following Monday 
morning. The illustration shows the typograph- 
ical error which is almost sure to work into a 
news story because of the hasty construction. 

{Paragraphs from a sermon preached by the 
Rev. William H. Leach at the Walden Presby- 
terian Church, on a Sunday evening preceding 
Labor Day, entitled, Labor Day and the WorWs 
Workers,) 

^^The greatest single domestic problem before 
the federal government at this time is to find 
work for its unemployed. In Germany, we are 
told, practically every man is working, France 
reports 50,000 idle men, America has over 5 
million. 

^ ^^A variety of causes contribute to this condi- 
tion but there is a definite propaganda at work 
to make labor the goat. Paid advertisements 
circulated through farm journals have led the 
great body of country folk to feel that the city 
worker is the responsible party. Investigations 
such as that of the Lockwood committee in 



114 How to Make the Church Go 

Buffalo places the responsibility partially upon 
some other classes. The workers have not been 
the only profiteers of the past half dozen years. 

^^A railroad workers' strike at this time would 
be very unfortunate. A strike, in the end, is 
but an appeal to public opinion and public 
opinion at this time will not favor a wide spread 
strike. Such would merely complicate a very 
muddled situation. The railroads would not be 
seriously embarrassed. They could draw from 
the 5,000,000 unemployed and there is not 
enough business to be cared for to cause a 
financial loss. 

^^The brightest feature of the present situation 
is that the government has finally awakened to 
realize that it has an unemployment problem. 
It is beginning seriously to attempt to find some 
solution and Secretary Hoover is the best man in 
the country to direct the work. All classes 
should unite in attempting to relieve the situa- 
tion before the cold weather sets in. The un- 
fortunate thing is that partisan zeal has delayed 
this action until the present time." 



Notice that the 
editor writes all of 
the head lines. 



A News Space Clinic 115 

UNEMPLOYMENT IS 
GREATEST PROBLEM 
GOVERNMENT FACES 



Lockwood Quiz Proves 
Workers Not Only Profit- 
eers, Minister Avers. 



BRIGHT FE.ATURL, REALIZA- 
TION OF NLLD FOR 
QUICK ACTION 



''The greatest single domestic problem 

Place the most before the federal government at this 

striking statement time is to find work for its unem- 

inthe first sentence, ployed," declared the Rev. William H. 

It will largely de- Leach last evening in the Walden Pres- 

termine the editor's byterian church, speaking on "Labor 

attitude toioard it. Day and the World's Workers." 

The inevitable er- 'In Germany we are told practically 

ror: copy gave 5,- every man is working; France has 50,- 

000,000, the re- 000 men idle, America has more than a 

porter's version million," he continued. 'There are a 

said *^a million" variety of causes which contribute to 
the present situation. 

Workers Not Only Profiteers. 
"Paid advertisements circulated 
through farm journals have led the 
great body of country folk to feel the 
city worker is the responsible party. 
Investigations, such as that of the 
Lockwood committee in Buffalo, place 
the responsibility partially upon some 



116 How to Make the Church Go 

other classes. The workers have not 
Notice local col- been the only profiteers of the past half 
oring, dozen years. 

*'A railroad workers* strike at this 
time would be very unfortunate. A 
strike, in the end, is but an appeal to 
public opinion and public opinion at 
this time will not favor a widespread 
strike. Such would merely complicate 
This is timely a very muddled situation. The rail- 
and so is news, roads would not be seriously embar- 
rassed. They could draw from the 
5,000,000 unemployed and there is not 
enough business now to be cared for to 
cause a financial loss. 

*'The brightest feature of the situa- 
tion is that the government has finally 
awakened to realize that it has an un- 
employment problem. It is beginning 
seriously to attempt to find some solu- 
tion, and Secretary Hoover is the best 
man in the country to direct the work. 
All classes should unite in attempting 
to relieve the situation before the cold 
weather sets in. The unfortunate thing 
is that partizan zeal has delayed this 
action until the present time.'' 



Chapter XI: Getting the 

Most From Volunteer 

Help 

One of the greatest burdens placed upon the 
minister in his program of construction is the 
necessity of getting his work accomplished by 
volunteer help. Paid workers are scarce in the 
average church. The boy who changes the sign 
board in front of the church, the teacher in the 
Sunday school, the president of the Ladies' Aid 
Society, the chairman of the Board of Trustees 
and many others of whom much is required in 
service are voluntary workers. They are the 
dollar a year men of the church. 

Now it is oftentimes true that a man will 
give a greater interest to the work of his church 
if it is a task he loves than he will to his business 
if it is a business he detests. As a matter of 
fact the life work of many men is so distasteful 
that the opportunity of church or charitable 
work may provide the outlet which keeps their 

117 



118 How to Make the Church Go 

life normal. But it is also true that the average 
worker has a great deal more respect for the ob- 
ligations upon which depend his salary or wages 
than for the moral and spiritual ones. 

During certain seasons church workers are apt 
to grow weary in their interest. It is common 
for their faithlessness to be contrasted with the 
constancy of the minister in a similar time. 

^^Oh, well, he is paid to do it/' is usually a suf- 
ficient explanation in the mind of the people. 
And it would make a difference with a great 
many people whether or not the obligation they 
are assuming is a moral obligation or one upon 
which their livelihood depends. We can assume 
from experiments which some Sunday schools 
have had with paid teachers and department 
heads that efficiency increases with the profes- 
sional help. There may be some loss, however, 
of the amateur spirit which is usually an in- 
dication of health in any enterprise. 

Varieties of Voluntary Service 

There is almost no limit to the kinds of service 
which a minister has at hand when he finds a 
way to secure and use volunteers. He will find 
lawyers who will welcome the opportunity to 



Volunteer Help 119 

talk over the problems of the incorporation or 
legal matter of the church. Mechanics will be 
located who will be glad to step in for an hour 
or two to give advice or work. Clerks will make 
it possible for him to get the best of service in 
typing and stenographic work. The minister can 
build a council for advice and work about him 
that is limited only by the size of his parish. 

One of the compensations of the ministry is 
the opportunity which it offers to a man to keep 
in touch with so many phases of life. He can 
get so many points of view with intimate contact 
with his people. From the worker in the shops 
the point of view of labor is presented. In the 
bank he gets the point of view of the investor of 
money. If he is a wise executive he will not 
alone secure the intimacy for self-culture but 
will bring all of these various types into some 
distinct service of the church. He will consider 
the friendships which are created not for his 
own enjoyment but for the service of the church. 

It is no mean task to use everybody in the 
congregation and still keep free from influences 
which might undermine his independence and 
make him the servant of a class or party. An 
aged minister gave some good advice to his 



120 How to Make the Church Go 

brethren at one time when he expressed one of 
his ideals for his ministry. 

"I stand ready to work with anybody," he 
said but continued, ^^I will be worked by none.'' 

A younger man who knows considerable of the 
secrets of executive success illustrated a point to 
the writer a number of years ago. The church 
had a new changeable letter bulletin board. A 
boy had volunteered to take care of it, changing 
the announcements week after week. So the 
minister went with him to show him how to do it. 

"I always do a task first before I turn it over 
to anybody. Then they know that I know how 
to do it and am willing to do it if necessary/' he 
explained. 

It requires considerable skill to be able to 
employ volunteer help and get big results, but 
the man who has learned how to do it may be 
sure that he has infinite sources of power. 

Some Rules 

1. The major task of the executive is to keep 
his workers busy and happy on some worthwhile 
task. Some churches would turn this around. 
Many good church people seem to think that 
their spiritual duty is to find something for the 



Volunteer Help 121 

minister to do and to offer criticism if he does 
not do it as they think that he should. There 
are ministers who feel that they must be in every 
little detail of church work for fear it will not 
be done as it should be done. As a matter of 
fact ministers can do as much damage by insist- 
ing on being in every thing as by being indiffer- 
ent to the work of the various church societies. 

Oftentimes it is better to let a work remain 
undone than for the minister to do it. It doesn't 
hurt to let the committee fall down on its job 
once in a while if the only alternative is for the 
minister to do its work for it. The executive will 
lose in the end if he makes himself the work 
horse for the entire church rather than the direc- 
tor of its activities. 

2. Train the officers and leaders to their 
responsibilities. Make them fight their own 
battles. Have confidence in them that they can 
do it and give them every chance. They will 
work better for the confidence which one has in 
them. When the Sunday school superintendent 
has difficulty with an assistant or a teacher let 
him handle the situation. Of course there will 
be times when the incompetency is so great that 
some action will be necessary but on the other 



122 How to Make the Church Go 

hand many difficulties are apt to arise which 
can be settled without interference on the part 
of the minister. 

A minister does not want to take too seriously 
many of the troubles of the various church socie- 
ties. If he has had much experience with human 
nature he soon learns this. He may be ap- 
proached by a worker who feels that he has a 
real grievance. Under the emotion of the min- 
ute it is exaggerated until the pastor may feel 
that he must espouse the side of the injured 
against one of his helpers. If he resists the im- 
pulse perhaps the trouble will have taken care 
of it itself in a few days and worker and officer 
the best of friends again. There is a great deal 
of the child in many adults. Great injustices of 
to-day are forgotten the next. 

The personal touch between the superinten- 
dent of the school and his workers may place 
him in a much better position to know the char- 
acters of those under him than the minister can 
know them. It is a decidedly poor policy for a 
minister to encourage any one to go over the 
head of the leader of the organization to lodge 
complaints with him. The very stability of the 
church depends upon the responsibility of of- 



Volunteer Help 123 

ficers and leaders being recognized. Let him 
learn the lesson taught Moses by his father-in- 
law and depend upon the organized force of 
others as well as the personality of himself. 

3. Try and place each worker in a position 
where he will count for most in the church but do 
not encourage any one to take more work than 
he can well do. In other words don't load every- 
thing on a man because he is a good worker. ^'If 
you want anything done, get a busy man to do 
it/' can be overdone as well as a lot of other 
good advice. Our churches have many men and 
women who are consecrated and devoted but 
who in their zeal are trying to do too much. 
The working time of volunteer workers comes 
after he has spent the day earning a living. No 
man in those conditions can be Sunday school 
superintendent^ church trustee, president of the 
men's club and choir director. And it is a poor 
executive policy which will load more on any 
man than he can handle — even if he does want it. 
It will be a happy day for churches and church 
workers when the worker can feel that he has 
one job that he can put all his energy in. 

Let us assume that a young man becomes 
teacher of a junior class of boys. He doesn't 



124 How to Make the Church Go 

know much about pedagogy because he has a 
business training; he doesn't know much about 
the Bible, for his entire training in that respect 
has come through the Sunday school; and he 
knows little about the psychology and social life 
of junior boys, except what he has himself ex- 
perienced. If that man can have a reasonable 
amount of time to study these things, to develop 
that class of boys through class work, hikes, 
camps and other methods, he has a big job. The 
church might better have him do that well than 
to press additional burdens upon him. 

4. Expect to learn as you grow older. Your 
workers every day are discovering methods and 
traits of people which may differ from your con- 
ception of them. Rejoice in their discoveries 
with them and learn as time goes by. One of 
the signs of old age is the inability to keep re- 
ceiving these new revelations of method and 
principle. A minister who can keep growing 
mentally doesn't hit the dead line very early. 

5. Learn to appreciate the difference between 
thoughtless harping and constructive criticism — 
between harpers and workers. Flies are not 
dragons. The minister has a big battle to wage; 
he cannot come down to spend time with need- 



Volunteer Help 125 

less parleys by thoughtless people. The soldier 
who turns to fight the dog snapping at his heels 
may forget the enemy he started out to over- 
come. But there are as well many people who 
offer constructive criticism and who are willing 
to become builders. Perhaps the test of the 
value of any criticism is the willingness of the 
critic to stand responsible for the program he 
advocates. 

St. Paul gave some good advice to us when 
he taught about his own fight. ^^So fight I not 
as beating the air." No time there for mere 
motions. He had an end in view. So also, has 
the executive minister. He will discriminate and 
accept with thanks the advice of those who are 
seeking to build the church, even though it is 
contrary to his ow^n convictions, but he will brush 
aside the idle talking of thoughtless people who 
speak without reason. 

6. Let the credit go where it belongs. When 
any department of the church has a good year or 
does something worth while, see that the people 
responsible for it get the credit for the work. 
^^Compliments for others, progress for yourself ,'' 
is a good motto for the minister. "Saying, 
^Thank you,' '^ helps when one has done a good 



126 How to Make the Church Go 

day's work. The minister of the church will, of 
course, profit by the success of his church. His 
work is judged by the results of those laboring 
under him. It should be sufficient for him that 
the work is well done. On no consideration 
should he lower himself to compete with one of 
his own workers or leaders for the honors. 

It is a mighty good habit for the executive to 
learn to say "we" instead of "I." Then the 
running of the church is "our'' task rather than 
"my" task. If the work succeeds it is "our" 
success. If it fails it is "our" failure. For the 
church is a corporate body. Scripturally it is the 
body of Christ. Ministers and people make up 
that body. 

"And whether one member suffereth, all the 
members suffer with it; or one member is hon- 
ored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye 
are the body of Christ, and severally members 
thereof. And God has set some in the church, 
first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teach- 
ers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, 
governments, divers kinds of tongues." 



Index 



Ability to get along with 
people, 12. 



B 



reliable, 



Bookkeeping, 

needed, loi. 
Boiler, Rev. Paul F., 103, 
Budget, preparing, 94. 
Bulletin, weekly, 74. 



Financial Campaign, 93 ff. . 
Fosdick, Dr. Harry Emer- (_^- 
son, quoted, 35. 



Group plan of organiza- 
tion, 79. 



Imitation, 23, 30. 

J 



Ceremony, Love of, 23, 27. Journals, rural and village, 
Church greater than min- 103. 

ister, 17. 
Competition, 23, 32. K 

Comradeship, 23, 36. ir n t? ^ r- 4. ^ 

Committee, function of, 60; ^^"^^ ^^^^ C, quoted, 22. 

Notification to Members, ^ 

65. ^ 

Committee Analysis, 67. 
Committee, who shall com- 
pose, 63. 
Communicant Card, 79, 81. 
Compromise, value of, 13. 
Criticism, thoughtless, 124. 



Forces which move men, 

20 ff. 
Fair Play, 23, 35. 



127 



Love of Christ, 23, 38. 
Lodges, Growth of, 27. 

M 

Mail, using U. S., 75. 

McGarrah, A. F., quoted, 
89. 

McConnell, Bishop, quoted, 
28, 33. 

Members of church, diver- 
sified, 15. 



128 



Index 



Money, The Acid Test, Ross, Dr. E. A., quoted, 

McConaughy, 94. 24, 28, 34. 

Motions vs. purpose, 14. Referendum, 76. 

Minister as an executive, Recognition, desire for, 23, 

II. 25. 



N 

News, what is, 107. 
News, how to get space 
for, III. 



Office, best location for, 41 ; 
one man, 43 ; equipment, 
44; with one helper, 47. 

Offices, Westminster Church, 
Buffalo, 49. 

Official Board, Democracy 
of, 52; notice of meet- 
ings, 53; docket, 55. 



Pastoral visitation, 78. 

People, Taking them as 
they are, 12 ff. 

Papers, City, 107. 

Prestige, 23, 30. 

Program, Church, 83 ff. 

Public Opinion, 23, 33. 

Pulpit announcements, 72. 

Psychology of the execu- 
tive, 20. 



Real Estate and Church, 
25- 



Self interest, 23. 
Sermons as news, 112. 
Service, Desire to be of, 

^2>, 37. 
Step by step analysis, 65. 
Stunts, contrasted with 

program, 82. 



"Thank you," saying, 
helps, 68. 

Time, element of to be con- 
sidered, 86, 88. 

Traditional tasks of the 
Minister, 11, 39. 



Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, 

quoted, 35. 
Volunteer services, 117; 
rules for, 120 ff. 

W 

Wilson, Lucius E., quoted, 
68. 

Worker, not to be over- 
loaded, 123. 

Workers, securing, 96. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



